Find inside:
Music and Art Tot Time
Family Art Saturdays
Toddler Sewing
Toddler time at the Children's Museum
and more!
This week, we’ll be taking a deep dive into all of the toddler and early childhood education and activity opportunities offered in Carson City including arts, music, literacy, sports, outdoor activities, and more!
Introducing: Music and Art Tot Time
Starting in the fall of 2024, Carson City Parks and Recreation unveiled its newest early childhood education activity: Music and Art Tot Time.
The new program began at the end of October and takes place Monday mornings with two sessions: one at 10 a.m. and the other at 11 a.m. It takes place each week at the Carson City Community Art Building, located south of the Carson City Aquatics Center within Mills Park at 801 N. Roop Street.
According to Anna Freeman, Arts and Culture Recreation Program Supervisor, as soon as the program started, it filled up — and has remained popular, with classes bursting each week.
On Monday, Freeman — known as Ms. Anna to the six or so toddlers gathered — began the first morning session with a round of the group singing hello to each child gathered.
They then transitioned into a musical program involving clapping, stomping and tapping to a song, learning how to clap on beat, and tapping sticks together on cue.
After, Freeman then read the toddlers a story with the theme of “long and short” while they chaotically extended and retracted flex tubes, giggling all the way.
After the story, the older toddlers engaged in an art project involving cutting and gluing short and long pieces of paper, while the younger ones flung the paper around and played with puzzles if they got bored.
Then, the children cleaned up the projects led by a clean up song, then rejoined Freeman on the rug for a goodbye song, singing to each child by name in turn.
In total, the program lasted 40 minutes, and was entirely free for all participants.
After the class, Freeman said they had piloted the program out of requests by the community.
“There seems to be a need in the community,” Freeman said. “A lot of people have requested more toddler programming, and specifically for music and arts.”
Freeman’s background is in elementary music education, and through her, they were able to provide the sessions.
“Arts are beneficial for every age,” she said. “It’s an important part of the community and an important part of the human experience to experience art and creativity. But the younger they can start the better, especially in these developmental years where they are learning so much and so — it’s really important for them to absorb positive things while they’re in this stage especially.”
The famous composer Zoltán Kodály once said “music education should start nine months before the birth of your mother,” and Freeman agreed with this idea, and said the community is in line with this thinking.
She said for years parents, guardians and families have been vocal about wanting more programming for younger children, and a number of organizations have risen to the call.
“There’s no risk we’re going to oversaturate the market,” she said. “There is always a need. The Boys and Girls Club are doing more early childhood, the recreation division is doing more early childhood, the school district is doing more early childhood … there will never be too much.”
Freeman said while the Arts and Music Tot Time class just has the two sessions on Mondays for now, if more community members reach out asking for additional times/days, or if they simply haven’t been able to get into the classes because they’re too full, she wants to know.
Freeman said anyone can reach out to her directly at afreeman@carson.org for questions, suggestions on what times or days are wanted, and even ideas for what type of programming families would like to see.
Parks and Recreation is able to offer the class for free because Freeman is a salaried employee, and the class will remain free as part of the overall Parks and Recreation division.
Reserving your space is recommended, she said, because if the classes become too large, people may have to be turned away for safety reasons.
To reserve your space, either click the link above or on the Carson City Parks and Recreation Website, search “tot.”
At the end of the day, Freeman said that these programs only exist because of the community.
“I want to thank the Carson community in general for recognizing the value of arts education. As soon as I started offering the class, it was full. Parents know arts education is important, and they know it’s great for the development of their children, and it’s a really positive thing we can do for those kiddos.”
While the Tot Time is a new program, it’s not the only investment the city, and it’s nonprofit partners, have been tackling to expand programming to the younger generation.
Even more art activities by or through the city of Carson City
Family Art Saturdays
Every second and fourth Saturdays of the month at the Community Art Building, Family Art Saturdays is hosted by the Sierra Arts Foundation for all ages for hands-on art activities.
Family Art Saturdays is hosted at the Community Art Building every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon, and costs $10 with children 5 and under free. Or, $8 each for groups of three or more that register together.
The art activities aren’t your typical glitter and glue projects (although there’s nothing banning those mediums by any means).
Instead, the program offers historical art education letting little artists explore classical art styles and techniques of some of the world’s most famous artists.
So far in 2025, topics have included Renaissance art through Da Vinci and Michelangelo, Pop Art through Warhol and Lichtenstein, Cubism through Picasso, with the upcoming class this Saturday being Surrealism through Salvador Dali.
To register, please visit the Carson City Parks and Recreation website and search “Family Art Saturdays.”
Toddler Sewing Class
A new course offered this Winter is the “My Toddler is Sewing!” class which is reservable through the Parks and Recreation site, and hosted at the Carson City Art Building.
The class is put on by Shirley Rash of the “Sew Happy Sewing School,” which also offers online classes to children of all ages.
According to Rash, the class is offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and teaches safe basics of sewing to little future crafters using a foam sewing card and a colorful shoelace!
“Your toddler will learn the basics of sewing, while learning all the reasons for sewing,” Rash wrote.
Participants do not need to bring any supplies, and parents and guardians should expect to stay with their children.
“Why should children learn to sew?” Rash wrote. “Hand-eye coordination, develop and mature their dexterity and fine motor skills, build self confidence and patience.”
Classes are limited to 10 toddlers ages 3-5.
The standard fee is $22, but partial and full scholarships are available through the Youth Recreation Scholarship.
To register on the Parks and Recreation website, search “My Toddler is Sewing!” to see all available dates.
Arts, music activities offered by nonprofit partners in Carson City
Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada
Toddler Time: The Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada hosts Toddler Time every Tuesday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for toddlers ages 1-3.
During this time period, the museum is designed with the little movers in mind. The stage is cordoned off for toddlers only, while there are other stations set up throughout the facility for toddlers such as a soft climbing and more.
On the stage, toddlers and their caregivers can find educational toys, pretend play, musical instruments, and more.
Admittance to the museum for ages 13 and over costs $3, and for children ages 1-12 it is $10. Infants are free.
Members can also purchase a one-year membership at $100 for their entire household with unlimited drop ins.
Art Studio: The drop-in art studio is hosted every Wednesday and Friday from 2-4 p.m. and is available for all ages. Creative art studio projects are included with museum admission, with additional crafts available for purchase.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the next installment in our Carson City Early Education and Toddler activity series, where we’ll look at sports, literacy, outdoor programming and more!
Next in the series:
Looking for more? Check out the current Carson City Activity Guide for all winter activities in the capital city:
