About year ago, we brought you the story of a new program called Kids & the Arts. Well, it’s no longer new, and with its inaugural year almost complete, founder Michele Rothberg sums up the experience as “simply fabulous.”

Her program instills basic skills, both fine motor and large motor appropriate for her young pupils, through art. The integration of art spawns creativity, an ever increasingly important skill to have.

With recent books such as Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class breaking the Top 10 on the best-seller lists, Rothberg’s focus on the importance of creativity and imagination is in tune with higher education aims. With more research showing the importance of creativity and innovation as key components in job marketability, this program gives toddlers a leg up. While Florida’s book focuses on the growing role of creativity in our economy, Rothberg’s focus is to incorporate creativity into all of her lesson plans.

To achieve that goal, many guest artists, each with their own expertise, translate a skill set through art.

For example, Music Together instructor Connie Cummins integrates math by having children count beats in songs. Along with her musical program, students will learn rhythm and scales and be introduced to different composers and instruments.

Other guest artists share their expertise in the fields of karate, tai chi, belly-dancing, juggling, makeup artistry and pottery, to name a few.

“We are dedicated to making learning fun and preserving the precious gift of imagination,” said art teacher Heidi Craw.

Despite the positive by-products, it’s not all academic. Rothberg wants to emphasize the importance of building community, problem solving, listening and social skills.

Highlights of last year’s programming include a Christmas show where kids performed a holiday musical to a half-packed Smiley auditorium. And the year ended with Saturday’s performance of “The Manners Musical,” also in the Smiley Building, where Rothberg holds her regular classes.

Through songs such as “Be Our Guest,” “I’m Sorry” and “May I,” children learn the importance of respecting their friends, themselves and the Earth. Scripted and choreographed by Rachel Gressler from The San Juan Mountain Theatre, the short (15 minutes?) musical paid tribute to social graces.

“It’s important to work on appreciating what we have and treating our environment with respect. It makes the world a better place,” Rothberg said.

The kids know this is not day care and obviously enjoy the varied programming. Whereas some children have been known to fake an illness so they can stay home from day care, the opposite is true here. Some parents have shared with Rothberg that their sick children pretend to be healthy so that they can attend Kids & the Arts.

As testament to the success of this year’s program, Rothberg has seen many returning students enrolled for next year. Busily preparing for the fall, she has added a new theater teacher to the faculty and more availability to the schedule. In addition to the Tuesday and Thursday classes, she’ll add a new Monday and Wednesday schedule for children ages 3 to 5. With three full-time faculty, she can accept 12 students. Partial scholarships are available, and Rothberg has been known to entertain trades as well.

Karin L. Becker teaches composition at Fort Lewis College. Reach her at becker_K@fortlewis.edu.