What started out as a program designed to celebrate the Month of the Young Child took on a life of its own at Bayonne Community Day Nursery when preschool artists posted their artwork.

Month of the Young Child is an outgrowth of a national program called "Week of the Young Child" designed to recognize the needs of young children and thank teachers and other adults who work to build better futures for all children.

The annual celebration, founded by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, is celebrated across the country by hundreds of local organizations working to improve opportunities for all young children. Early learning experiences are crucial to young children's growth and development.

At Community Day Nursery, art became the focus of this celebration and the administration was so impressed with what they saw a gallery was set up to help share the works of art with parents and other visitors.

"This is part of an effort at educating parents and guests about early learning and how quality child care and preschool programs can influence a child's chances for success in school and in life," said Sally Mason, director at the nursery. "The art show became a visual representation of the range of talent our students have. It is electrifying to see how very creative these children are."

Themes, toys and mixed media

All five classes of Community Day Nursery participated in the event, said teacher Amnah Johnson.

The nursery has one class of students ages 2 ½ to 3 ½ and four classes with students ages 3 ½ to 5.

Artwork varied depending on the class. Some worked in paint. Some worked in mixed media. Some even used toys to create structures, Johnson said.

Two classes took up themes, one of which produced artwork with a bird theme, creating collages and other works.

"There are no winners and losers," said Mason, who called the work the kids' gallery with the hope parents and others will come in and take a look. "We want to get parents to come and see what their children have done."

Johnson said some parents have already come to see the gallery, and view the remarkable range of works from full murals to intricately developed creations made of feathers and other materials.

Getting kids involved The idea, said Mason, is to get kids fully involved in the creative process. This may mean getting their hands dirty as they work the materials.

Paint, string, feathers, paper, building blocks and other materials make up some of the original works.

One class made Native American Indian culture its theme - combining Month of the Young Child with Earth Day celebrations, Johnson said.

Several totem poles stand in one corner of the gallery, made up of old plastic milk containers, redefining the concept of recycling.

Community Day Nursery, a not-for-profit organization, was founded in 1969 and is the first facility of its kind in the City of Bayonne. It moved to its current location at 27th Street and Broadway in 1982.

The facility takes care of 97 children, all from Bayonne.