When a child creates a work of art, parents and teachers celebrate it. But the Associated Students Inc. Children’s Center directors believe everyone should be able to celebrate, and decided to do something about it.

The center is participating in the Worldwise Education’s Artwork for Education Fundraiser, a program that converts children’s artwork into greeting cards in hopes of raising money for the center’s programs.

Denise Wessels, the Children’s Center director, said the program was appealing for a second year in a row because it is a great way to honor the children’s art and raise money at the same time.

“It was a fun fundraiser last year, so we decided to bring it back,” Wessels said.

The fundraiser requires participating schools to send their artwork to Worldwise, where sample greeting cards are made. Next, a catalog is created and sent to the schools. Using the catalogs, parents, teachers and children sell boxes of greeting cards to friends and family members, Wessels said.

Dannah Nielsen, a preschool teacher at the Children’s Center, said the art and parent permission slips were collected during the first three weeks of school and then sent to Worldwise.

She said it was easy to gather the artwork needed because the children are required to have arts and crafts time everyday.

“With the fundraiser, we just made sure they had a variety of materials,” Nielsen said.

Over the three-week period, the children experimented with finger-painting, oil pastels, stickers, stamps, and coloring using crayons, colored pencils and markers. Nielsen said the children also used a technique called marble painting, which many people are not familiar with.

Paint-covered marbles are rolled around on paper to achieve an abstract blend of colors and markings, she said.

Even the infants contributed to the cause by submitting their handprints in paint, Nielsen said.

Mary Felix, a Children’s Center teacher and mother, said she was more than willing to sign the permission slip allowing her son’s artwork to be submitted.

“I was very, very happy with his submitting work,” she said.

Felix’s 3-year-old son, Antonio, is one of the many children to submit a finger-painting.

Nielsen also said staff, parents and other family members were encouraged to submit work as well. Some families even sent in portraits to be turned into holiday cards, she said.

Felix said last year she submitted her own design to be turned into “thank you” cards, but was unable to do so this year.

The center expects the catalogs to arrive by Monday and the ordered greeting cards by Nov. 26, just in time for Christmas, Wessels said.

The cards come in boxes of 12 for $19.95, and 40 percent of all sales goes directly to the Children’s Center.

With the money raised, Wessels said she hopes to enhance many programs, but it is likely the outdoor play area will see the most improvements. The equipment requires a great deal of attention because of weather changes, so it must be updated often, Wessels said.

After participating last year, the center was able to add a nature observation table outside, which Wessels said is now a place for the children to learn about and connect with nature. The children can collect pine cones, leaves, or rocks and even the chairs they sit on are tree stumps.

Wessels said it was suggested to all parents that their children, ranging from 6-months-old to kindergarten age, should participate. She felt it was safe to say that most of them did, which Nielsen agreed with.

“It is generally assumed that every child submitted (artwork),” Nielsen said.

Wessels said students who are interested can stop by the center and view the catalogs or online on the center’s website at www.asi.csus.edu/children, or Worldwise’s website at www.artworkforeducation.com.

She said she hopes more people buy their cards this year.

The cards display the colorful, bright submissions on the front, but are left blank on the inside to allow for multiple uses.

“They’re just gorgeous quality,” Wessels said.

Tygenae Harris can be reached at [email protected]