Art Club

[Curlyfifteen]

Hello, I am an illustrator/graphic designer and thinking of starting an art club. I see it offering workshops for children and adults (not at the same time) but may start just as an after school club as I don't have any teaching experience and need to start small. I am also a mum of two so can only put in a small amount of time when husband can look after them.

I would love to hear from other parents who may have done something similar, is it possible to learn to teach on the job (in this context of an hour after school - I know proper teaching is big skill!)?

Also how much time would you say is needed for planning? I was looking into purchasing some lesson plans from twinkle or something similar.

Any advice?

Also what to charge?

Thanks

Being brutally honest, as a parent who pays for extra curricular stuff, if you’re not a qualified teacher, don’t have experience yet and would be getting lesson plans from Twinkl then I don’t think I’d be keen to sign my child up. As a first step could you volunteer to run a lunch club for free (or very minimal cost to cover materials) to build up your own experience and skills and see if you enjoy running groups for kids?

Thanks for your honesty. I dont have teaching experience but i am a graphic design and illustration professional with years of experience in the creative industry and designs being manufactured at the moment. I have a Masters in Graphic Design also. Would you still be against someone like me teaching your child? How old are they?

whats wrong with twinkle (genuine question)?

It’s not that I’d be against you teaching my children, just that when there are lots of extracurricular activities to choose from, I probably wouldn’t choose yours from the limited info you’ve given. I totally get that you are experienced in that field, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to being able to teach/lead/manage children. You might be great at that too but your potential customers have no way of knowing that. And nothing wrong with Twinkl itself, but I would be expecting more of a bespoke/unique/creative offering.

Could you join with a franchise? I assume they’d be helping with set-up and session activity ideas. One of my children do an after school art club through a franchise type arrangement and she loves it. It’s the favourite thing she does.

Of course you can op!
If you get kids or adults to create things they enjoy creating and make the sessions fun then you'll get more business.

Totally depends where you live, re: how much money you could potentially make.

Also, might be a good idea to get yourself DBS checked.