Having an art background, I’ve taken my son to many an art class. If there’s a place that offers a chance for my child to get covered in paint, sticky with glue or caked with clay, we’ve been there. Usually we have a great time but I wouldn’t classify any of them as revelatory or educational; until we took a class at Brooklyn Design Lab.

With classes geared toward specific age ranges, reasonable rates, an intimate setting, and a very knowledgeable instructor, my son and I not only had the best time, but he learned all kinds of new things. He made his own clay, built sculptures out of unconventional materials, and played with fuzzy pipe cleaners and wooden shapes. The teacher, Amy Yang, is also the owner and has 10 years of extensive art + child experience. I was amazed at the new ways my toddler began to communicate about the world around him, using words like “soft, hard, curved, straight, bright, dark.” And as an added bonus, we have some beautiful artwork around our house. And should anyone ask about it my son beams with pride.

Essential information about the lab:

• started April 2009
• located at 413A 7th Avenue (between 13th & 14th Streets)
• offers classes for 18m-grade 6 throughout the year
• open registration for summer art camp (Summer Lab) for grades K-2 and ages 3-6 from June through August
• open registration for Spring session–begins April 22

Space is set up for the K-6th grade classes

Space is set up for the 18m- 4 years classes

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Trained as art historian, Tonya Vernooy has traded in her musings on biotechnology and contemporary art to focus on a more intense subject: raising her son and writing about it: www.adhocmom.com. She is also currently working on a series of murder mystery novels. She lives in Park Slope with 1 child, 1 husband, 2 dogs, and a cat.

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