Welcome to Bridges

Teach the arts, academics & social emotional learning through hands-on, age appropriate & process-oriented activities.
Elementary school students engaged in Bridges activities and holding up their artwork.
 
 
 

What is Bridges?

 
  • Bridge 1: Multisensory Literate Expression means children explore ideas and tell stories through multisensory activities using physical expression, vocal/sound exploration, visual art and puppet play. Bridge 2: Notice, Describe and Ask Protocol means children's artistic choices are at the center of this conversation protocol which involves richly descriptive and non-judgmental language. Bridge 3: An Artist's Work Process means children discover their own ways of thinking and working through a process in which they imagine, experiment, problem-solve, collaborate, self-reflect and revise.
    ​A model for teaching arts, literacy & SEL together. Bridges...
    • strengthens student agency & expression skills.
    • is grounded in the multisensory storytelling arts of puppetry.
    • can be adapted to any artform and used by artists & classroom teachers alike.
    • was inspired by the impact of a k-5 puppetry curriculum at PS 130 in Brooklyn.
    • was created over 8 years of action research. Learn More about the 3 Bridges Model
  • Four kids exuberantly playing with puppets they drew and taped to wooden sticks in front of background settings they made form torn paper.
    Why puppetry?

    Across the globe, puppetry traditions authentically encompasses a variety of expressive media as rigorous storytelling tools. Puppetry employs visual storytelling (puppet design & movement) supported by sounds, music, dialogue & narration. It builds confidence by offering an authentic storytelling voice to young children as they learn to speak & write

 

Bridges Action Research

What is it in arts activities that awakens students’ agency and expression, builds their confidence to take risks, persist with challenges, solve problems with autonomy, and feeds their learning in other subjects throughout the school day?

 
  • Classroom teacher leading students in a game to physicalize their ideas about emotion.

    8 years of action research in public school classrooms

    Our design team worked with artists, teachers & school administrators in 12 schools to research this question, develop activities & build a model.
    Meet the Action Researchers
  • Classroom teacher kneeling down at a student's desk listening as he tells her about the puppet he made.

    Building a model that any educator can use.

    We identified the elements that allow kids to thrive & developed activities & a model any educator can use, regardless of their arts background.

  • Evaluator Research

    ArtsResearch conducted 9 years of mixed-method research on the impact of the Bridges program. Which showed strong evidence of program effects on literacy and child development.
    Learn more about our Research
 

Teach with the 3 Bridges

Through research, we developed a teaching model that builds bridges from the inner world of children- their curiosity, agency and imagination- to the world of school learning. It also bridges literacy, the arts, & social emotional learning.

 
  • Student experimenting with yellow torn paper strips and crumpled blue paper during art making.
    What the Bridges teach

    The Bridges connect aspects of learning usually separated in schools: literacy, the arts, & social emotional learning. Reconnecting these provides a foundation in essential working and thinking skills children need in all their endeavors. A liberated learning environment is created where children can discover their own path into expressive work.

    Teach with the 3 Bridges Model
  • One girl whispering in another's ear about the contrasting puppet faces they're working on at their desks.

    Bridge 2: Notice, Describe and Ask

    This way of talking about artmaking allows children to feel seen for who they are, while building their ability to speak for themselves.
    Learn about Notice, Describe and Ask
  • Two proud students posing with their finished puppets. Two students engaged in the process of making torn paper backgrounds.
    Bridge 3: An Artist’s Work Process

    Fundamental to the Bridges model is creating a space in which children can work and think like artists: they discover their own way of thinking and working through a process in which they imagine, experiment, problem-solve, collaborate, self-reflect, and revise. Facilitate their process using research-based guidelines and tools.

    Learn about an Artist’s Work Process
 

Try Bridges in your classroom

Our resources were tested and developed over 8 years of co-teaching and feedback from classroom teachers and artist mentors. We chose activities to share that are exciting and empowering to children, and adaptable for a range of educators.

 
  • Boy holding up and mirroring his puppet's emotions with his own face, happy and shocked.
    Use the bridges activity library to find…
    • resources filtered by content, artform, skills & parts of a lesson.
    • activities, protocols, tools & booklists.
    • webpages with supports for implementation including videos and tools for planning, reflection and building your skills.
    • downloadable supports.
    • concrete ways to integrate the 3 Bridges into your teaching. Find Activities and Tools
  • Students in different kinds of classrooms trying to act out various emotions with their bodies and faces.

    Try an activity thread! Emotion Vocabulary

    Emotion Vocabulary Activity 1
    Play The Statue Game to embody core emotions and engage students in the inferencing process through physical expression. Check out the
    Emotion Statue Game (core)
  • Three students using their bodies and faces to show the three advanced emotion vocabulary words baffled, enraged and panicked.

    Try an activity thread! Emotion Vocabulary

    Emotion Vocabulary Activity 2
    Play the Statue Game to introduce advanced emotion vocabulary & support personal connections through physical expression.
    Check out the
    Emotion Statue Game (advanced)
  • Student uses emotion mapping tool to get ideas for how to draw expressive puppet faces.

    Try an activity thread! Emotion Vocabulary

    Emotion Vocabulary Activity 3
    Use Emotion Mapping to visually compare & contrast advanced emotion words explored in The Statue Game.
    Check out
    Emotion Mapping
  • A composite image 1) two children enjoy using the shapes to create eyebrows on their own face 2) a child copies the puppet face they've made by winking their own eye 3) two contrasting puppet faces made by the same child. One has spread out shapes that give it a suprised expression and one has the shapes squished together giving it a determined expression. 3) A child explains the two contrasting faces she made to the rest of the class.

    Try an activity thread! 5 Shapes Many Emotions

    Explore and Describe how small composition choices about shape, spacing, direction and pattern can transform the expression of a puppet face
    Check out the 5 Shapes Many Emotions activity
  • Kindergartner admires the puppet head she made with a sad face and big eyelashes.

    Toolkit: Working with Emotions

    How can teachers support kids in working through the emotional highs and lows of their art making process?
    Find Tools
  • A composite image. Center- A photo of a first-grade girl showing holding her drawing over the lower part of her face. She has drawn a variety of lines and used shapes to make a drawing of a pencil. Left- A child's pencil drawing of a pattern using spirals inside of squares framed by short dark diagonal lines. Right- A child's pencil drawing of a character made out of squares, circles and triangle teeth & spikes.

    Try a new way to introduce arts skills

    Explore & Describe lessons put children in charge of their artistic choices as they discover new ways to use accessible art materials and tools.
    Explore & Describe Pencil
  • Student smiling and holding up a small puppet of a person she made with torn paper. Student looking at a background she made using lots of small torn paper pieces in many colors filling the page.

    Try a new way to introduce arts skills

    Explore & Describe lessons put children in charge of their artistic choices as they discover new ways to use accessible art materials and tools.
    Explore & Describe Torn Paper Collage
  • Group of students seated at desks working on drawn settings with colored pencils.

    Tool kit: Scaffolding for child driven process

    How can teachers provide young artists with a structure that builds the skills and mindset artists use to develop expression independently?
    Find Tools
 

Choose your adventure

Step into Bridges through an entry path that relates our material to priorities in your field. This website serves multiple audiences interested in our research and resources.

 
  • Settings and cat puppets drawn with colored pencils.

    Arts Educators

    Discover Bridges offerings through the priorities, perspectives and voices of arts educators in Puppetry, Theater, visual, movement, and sound.
    Teaching Artist's Entry Page
  • Two classroom teachers laughing while they practice playing with their puppets.

    Classroom Teachers

    Discover Bridges offerings through the priorities, perspectives and voices of classroom teachers responsible for academic learning.
    Teacher Entry Page
  • Students using their bodies to act out the characters, problems and solutions listed on a chart behind them.

    School Administrators

    Discover Bridges offerings through the priorities, perspectives and voices of Principles and Assistant Principals.
    Administrator's Entry Page
  • Group of educators talking around a table about the observations made during Bridges research.

    Researchers

    Learn about our action research & external evaluation research
    Research Entry Page
 

Kids and Families!

Kids! Have fun and start creating with artist-made videos.

Parents! Support your children to work and think like artists while building their academic skills and confidence.

 
  • Parents and kids with smiling faces holding up art they made together.
    Visit the kids and families page
    • Visual arts activities
    • Storymaking through physical expression & dramatic play
    • Puppet making
    • Puppetry & storytelling
    • Information about family workshops
    Resources for kids and families here
  • Artist looks intensely at a piece of paper he is holding up that he has been drawing lines on with his pencil that is also pressed to the page.
    https://www.youtube.com/embed/hK_A1mHC830

    Explore Drawing Lines with Chris!

    Teaching Artist Chris Ignacio invites kids at home to be curious about their pencils and the lines they can draw!
    More visual arts videos
  • Teaching srtist Psacoya Guinn pretends to catch and grasp stars in her hand while animated stars appear overlayed.
    https://www.youtube.com/embed/zXt3DH0zFak

    Let’s go to outerspace!

    Take a journey to outer space using your imagination and your 5-senses with teaching artist Psacoya Guinn.
    More dramatic play videos
 

Funders

Bridges was made possible by funding from the United States Department of Education:

  • Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant: 2018-2022
  • Professional Development in Arts Education Grant: 2014-2018
 
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