Our first workshop of this Four-Part series is Tomorrow, Tuesday evening, June 2nd 6pm-8:30pm PST
This workshop will be Online Via Zoom
#1 Graphic Materials & Drawing Tools:
Exploring the Alphabet of Drawing Register Here
Tuesday, June 2nd 2026 6pm to 8:30pm – $65 Online Via ZOOM
Patricia Hunter McGrath and Christina Bianchi
“Drawing at its best is not what your eyes see but what your mind .” – Millard Sheets
Join us and explore the wonders of drawing. Over many years Branches has discovered and developed many different ways that drawing can be used as a powerful tool for children to uncover and deepen their ideas and develop their creativity and imagination. Together you will learn many different techniques and strategies that you can use in your classrooms.
Together, we will explore:
- What is the difference between observational, representational, and imaginative drawing?
- What are the techniques to introduce line tools to children?
- How can drawing be used to help children understand sequencing?
- How can drawing be used to support literacy and mathematics?
- What is drawing to learn?
- How can drawing support literacy, narrative, and poetic language?
- How is drawing used to make relationships and connections visible?
- How can drawing support sequencing and prediction?
- What is the alphabet of drawing?
A Deep Dive Into The Hundred Languages of Children:
Bringing The Hundred Languages Into Your Classroom
Early Summer Workshop Series Register Here
A FOUR-PART ONLINE AND IN PERSON BRANCHES ATELIER WORKSHOP SERIES
WITH PATRICIA HUNTER-MCGRATH, CHRISTINA BIANCHI AND OUR BRANCHES TEAM OF EDUCATORS
For more than 18 years, Branches Atelier has developed an innovative program using expressive media and materials as tools of the mind. We are happy to offer this series of workshops to deeply explore the essential role that materials play in children’s learning. Over five sessions, you will be introduced to the philosophy, techniques, and organizational strategies needed to create dynamic, creative, and innovative explorations for your work with children, deep dives into the use of materials at your schools.
Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach
Do You Ever Feel This Way?
- Overwhelmed when choosing materials for your classroom?
- Unsure what to do after the first day or two of introducing materials?
- Struggling to set clear boundaries—or frustrated when children don’t care for materials?
- Walking into an art store and not knowing what to buy or how to use it?
- Feeling your own creativity depleted revisiting the same ideas year after year?
You’re not alone—and this series is designed to support you.
The Hundred Languages of Children
The “Hundred Languages of Children” recognizes that children express their thinking, ideas, and emotions in many different ways—not just through words.
Drawing, clay, paint, light, technology and materials all become languages for thinking and meaning-making.
Each year, we hear from educators across the U.S. who share similar challenges:
- Where do I begin?
- How do I keep materials meaningful over time?
- Why do explorations seem to end before they begin?
Sometimes, when considering the Hundred Languages, we miss the forest for the trees.
This series supports you in:
- Understanding materials as languages
- Building confidence from your home or classroom
- Engaging in hands-on learning guided by an Atelierista
- Reflecting deeply on your teaching practice
- Learning the tools, strategies and techniques of different materials.
You’ll Learn:
- Why these materials are foundational across ages
- How and when materials are introduced
- How materials evolve over time instead of being removed too quickly
- How to recognize when materials need:
- More time
- New provocations
- Small adjustments
- How these materials extend:
- Curiosity
- Attention span
- Creativity
- Problem-solving
Program Overview
Join us for four interconnected workshops exploring materials as languages for thinking, communication, and meaning-making.
Each session focuses on a specific material language while building toward a deeper understanding of how children connect ideas across experiences.
Online Workshops Via ZOOM
#1 Graphic Materials & Drawing Tools. Tuesday, June 2nd 2026 – 6pm to 8:30pm – $65
Exploring drawing as a language for communication, mark-making, and representation
#2 Intro to Clay as a Language of Thinking. Tuesday, June 23rd 2026 – 6pm to 8:30pm – $65
Understanding clay as a medium for transformation, expression, and sensory exploration
In person hands on Worksops at Branches Atelier
11359 W Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90066
#3 Advanced Clay: Iterations, Combinations and Unlimited Possibilities
Saturday, June 6th, 2026 – 9am to 3pm – $135
includes breakfast and A block of clay
#4 Creating a World of Colors: Palettes that Connect us to our World
Saturday, June 27th, 2023 – 9am to 3pm – $145
includes breakfast and materials to take back to your classroom
Workshop Descriptions
Online Via Zoom
#1 Graphic Materials & Drawing Tools:
Exploring the Alphabet of Drawing Register Here
Tuesday, June 2nd 2026 6pm to 8:30pm – $65 Online Via ZOOM
Patricia Hunter McGrath and Christina Bianchi
“Drawing at its best is not what your eyes see but what your mind .” – Millard Sheets
Join us and explore the wonders of drawing. Over many years Branches has discovered and developed many different ways that drawing can be used as a powerful tool for children to uncover and deepen their ideas and develop their creativity and imagination. Together you will learn many different techniques and strategies that you can use in your classrooms.
Together, we will explore:
- What is the difference between observational, representational, and imaginative drawing?
- What are the techniques to introduce line tools to children?
- How can drawing be used to help children understand sequencing?
- How can drawing be used to support literacy and mathematics?
- What is drawing to learn?
- How can drawing support literacy, narrative, and poetic language?
- How is drawing used to make relationships and connections visible?
- How can drawing support sequencing and prediction?
- What is the alphabet of drawing?
#2 Introduction to Clay as a Language of Thinking NEW Register Here
Tuesday, June 23rd 2026 6:00pm – 8:30pm – $65 Online Via ZOOM
Patricia Hunter McGrath and Christina Bianchi
Join Branches Atelier for an inspiring online workshop designed for educators ready to rethink clay as a dynamic creative language for the youngest learners.
There is something deeply powerful about clay in the hands of children.
It resists, responds, remembers, and transforms. It invites slowing down, close observation, experimentation, revision, and discovery. In this all-new online workshop, educators will explore how clay becomes far more than an art material — it becomes a language for thinking.
Clay as a Language of Thinking invites participants into a rich investigation of clay as a medium for inquiry, relationship, and meaning-making within early learning environments inspired by the principles of the hundred languages of children.
Through this online workshop, we will explore how clay supports children to:
• Think with their hands
• Develop symbolic and representational thinking
• Explore transformation through process
• Build confidence through experimentation
• Make thinking visible through three-dimensional expression
Together we will examine how clay offers unique opportunities for long-term inquiry, slowing down learning processes and creating space for reflection, problem-solving, and collaborative exploration.
Participants will explore:
The language of clay
Understanding clay as a responsive material for communication, investigation, and thought
Setting up meaningful clay encounters
Creating invitations that encourage inquiry, experimentation, and sustained engagement
Techniques for young learners
Simple, accessible approaches for introducing and sustaining explorations in clay
Clay as transformation
Exploring how change, revision, collapse, rebuilding, and emergence become central to learning
IN-PERSON Hands On Workshops Onsite at
Branches Atelier – 11359 W Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90066
#3 Advanced Clay Techniques :
Iterations, Combinations and Unlimited Possibilities NEW Hands On.
Saturday, June 6th, 2026, 9am to 3pm – $135 @ Branches Atelier Register Here
includes breakfast and A block of clay
Presented by Patricia Hunter McGrath and Branches Staff
I like doing clay work. It’s different from drawing on a page because you have something to mold into different shapes. It’s quite visual; it’s a thing you can hold and feel, which makes it different from drawing.” – Bonnie Wright
Clay is a powerful tool for transformation in children’s hands; it supports stories and narratives, different perspectives, and geometry. Its flexibility invites us to reconsider our ideas over and over again. Join us while we explore the wonderful medium of clay and consider how to set up a studio where clay’s potential as a tool for representing children’s ideas can be realized.
Together, we will explore:
- How can clay be combined with different materials for limitless possibilities?
- What is the relationship between drawing, paper and clay?
- How can clay support different perspectives, points of view and iterations?
- How are slabs used to create structures and sculptures?
- How are advanced clay tools, techniques offered to the children?
- How does clay become a tool for collaboration?
This workshop includes a block of Clay for your classroom.
#4.Creating a World of Colors: Palettes that Connect us to our World
Saturday, June 27th, 2026, 9am to 3pm – $145 @ Branches Atelier Register Here
includes breakfast and materials to take back to your classrooms!
Presented by Patricia Hunter McGrath and Branches Staff
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way–things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keefe
Tempera Paint can be mixed in an infinitely nuanced palette, but how often do we end up creating colors that represent the vitality, diversity, and beauty of the natural world?
Join us as we consider how we can use this resource to bring attention to the richness of the environment, including:
- What are the tricks and tips to creating a wide range of beautiful palettes?
- What are the techniques of paint mixing with children?
- How can color support children learning?
- How can a wide range of paint colors support children’s connection to nature?
- What is the difference between a tone, hue, shade, and tint?
- How can paint and color support literacy and poetic language?
Included in the cost of this workshop is breakfast, a color wheel, paint cups, and paints that participants can use to create a personal palette that can be taken back to their centers. Participants will also create a paint recipe book, that can be used for years to come, as a tool to create beautiful palettes throughout the year.
Reggio Inspirations 