Building Life Skills, One Drawing at a Time: A Look at Leaps of Imagination’s Innovative Art Program

“We each see the world differently, and when we give kids the time to observe, they come to understand that in ways we couldn’t even imagine.” — Nancy Frohlich, Executive Director, Leaps of Imagination

Through our Environment and Arts Programs, we support organizations of all sizes doing critical work for Maine’s residents and visitors. And we know that the nonprofits on the ground understand best what’s needed for their regional and community contexts.

That’s why we often support organizations that partner with other groups, schools, or vendors to help localize that knowledge and create an extended network of impact. In 2021, we made our first grant to Leaps of Imagination, a nonprofit that bridges the gap between arts education and environmental connection.

By employing local artists to team up with elementary school classrooms, the Leaps of Imagination team teaches young people key life skills through art practice and environmental observation. In the decade since its founding, the organization has sustained partnerships with more than 50 artists, teachers, and naturalists and has impacted more than 1,500 children.

Leaps of Imagination lives up to its name: It helps students make great strides in imaginative thinking, all in an effort to enable children to connect with the world around them and build a better future.

Igniting Imagination Through Art

Like the work it conducts with students today, the idea for Leaps of Imagination was sparked from an observation.

Nancy Frohlich, executive director, saw that arts education in public school classrooms was quickly dwindling, so she set out to put her decades of teaching and curricula design experience to work in a new capacity. “I thought that everything I had learned as an educator could come to life in classrooms where kids were losing their arts curriculum,” Frohlich says. “I could give those lessons back to them.”

Frohlich launched the organization in partnership with one principal and two second-grade teachers, collaborating on how to cross curricular boundaries and foster creativity within environmental contexts.

From those early conversations, an art program and a set of guiding values were born. Every program would involve:

• Connectivity. All elements of the program would build on each other to create a whole, integrating out-of-school activities with in-school lesson plans.

• Context. Artists would teach within natural settings to help students derive meaning, deepen their understanding of the world, and use key skills in the field.

• Collaboration. The Leaps of Imagination team would work hand in hand with artists, teachers, and school leaders who are invested in all aspects of a program.

Today, with a five-to-one student-to-teacher ratio, the team effectively acts on these principles, values students’ contributions, and models the behavior they hope to see. “It’s important to us to listen to what kids have to say, to see where they’re going, and to draw upon their ideas,” Frohlich says. “Then, they see us collaborate, and we put them in a position where they have to make decisions together and reach consensus.”

The Leaps’ roster of teaching artists has significantly increased and the organization has become a hub for arts education in midcoast Maine. For their 2023-2024 programming, the team used Onion Foundation grant funding to develop a theme that would help them advance their mission even further: “Power of Perspectives: Tree Power, Me Power, We Power.”

When Creativity Leads to Empowerment

Frohlich and participating artists and teachers designed “Power of Perspectives” to help K-5 students develop their own creative power, connect to local ecosystems, and learn to collaborate with others. The program’s teaching artists taught 185 pre-K and kindergarten students and those in grades two through five across four Maine communities.

Classroom teachers were fundamental to the program’s success: They met and collaborated with Frohlich and her team to ensure those lessons built on what teachers were already doing in their classrooms.

From there, artists, teachers, and the Leaps of Imagination team led students through three sections.

Tree Power

In the Tree Power section, students traveled to Wheeler Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to observe trees and listen to the natural world, something Frohlich feels is critical to human development: “Nature depends on the interconnectedness of various elements,” Frohlich says. “We as humans need to connect to nature and to each other to value other points of view.”

Students drew wildlife and created original prints to visualize the strength of the trees they observed. For students, Frohlich describes, the lesson was all about pausing and truly taking in the landscape through art. “If you slow down and pause,” says Frohlich, “you’ll notice things that most of us just walk by.”

Me Power

The Me Power section afforded students the opportunity to create self-portraits embedded in the nature landscape they observed. This lesson deepened their connection to the environment and allowed them to express themselves creatively.

The students also kept a journal throughout the program to tap into and record their thoughts, environmental observations, and feelings. “I write a comment after every class in every kid’s journal,” says Frohlich. “They feel a sense of pride. The expression on their faces when they read the comments is remarkable.”

Many students have continued writing and drawing in their journals beyond the program, which empowers them to continue observing and practicing their creativity.

We Power

Finally, the Leaps of Imagination team partnered with the Sundog Outdoor Leadership Initiative to embark on experiences that required students to communicate, collaborate, and make decisions as a team.

Part of the “We Power” section involved students viewing others’ journals and drawings and leaving comments on their work. The collaborative process taught the students to share encouragement and productive feedback.

The kids were given space and time to access their creativity and open their imaginations, all in service of learning vital skills for the future. “Art is truly the vehicle that propels kids’ thinking and connection-making,” says Frohlich. “The outcome of their work of art is an additional benefit to what we’re trying to grow in them as human beings.”

Art Today for a Better Tomorrow

Like all of Leaps of Imagination’s programs, the “Power of Perspectives” art program united artists, teachers, and students to explore what’s possible through artistic expression and collaboration. Because the students had time to observe the natural world and work through problems together, they left the program better able to think deeply, synthesize ideas, and express themselves.

At the end of the art program, students submitted a description of what they’d learned in their own words, which emphasized their growth and development throughout their activities:

• “Sometimes it’s hard to work with other people at the beginning, but it gets easier.”

• “We can’t control everything.”

• “We communicate with one another to try to make it work.”

• “If a lot of people help, we’ll get it accomplished.”

While all students learned critical lessons in the program and blossomed as burgeoning artists, some also found a greater sense of belonging: “The kids who struggle the most in the classroom and never raise their hands thrive in this program,” Frohlich says.

It’s not just the kids themselves who benefit, too. The teachers and artists at the heart of the program find immense satisfaction in their work, evidenced by the fact that many continue participating for years. The lessons help them realize that teaching young kids to think differently, innovate, and work together is truly possible.

As the organization moves forward, Frohlich and her team are focused on building capacity and expanding their teaching artist pool to serve more students in Maine. And as they develop new programs, they’re continuing to model what they teach: observing the world, working together, and learning from nature.