It is a typical day at "Creating Kids", the new childcare center on Audubon Street. The preschoolers are reading Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are with their teacher, snuggled under a shady tree. Then as the last page is finished, the teacher calls out, "Where are my actresses and actors?"

"Here," shout the children, as they rummage about for face paints to create themselves as storybook characters.

"A tiger," says Andrew.

"A scary purple monster," decides Molly Rose. Ooops-no paint brush! With a stick the children have most innovatively fashioned themselves into a paintbrush, the daub each other liberally with orange, purple, green, and black paint and take their places as proper wild things.

Thus, the experience of literature moves naturally from words to paint, to drama, with creative and innovative paintbrush problem-solving making it all possible. At "Creating Kids," the rich arts-based curriculum is enhanced by honoring the many ways infants, toddlers, and young children learn and express themselves. Through multiple approaches, children see the world as a diverse and enchanting place, where no problem is insurmountable and no experience is one-dimensional.

To the many contributors of its neighbors at Artspace, the Neighborhood Music School, the Creative Arts Workshop and the Educational Center for the Arts, Creating Kids adds one more element to a multi-faceted block.

"Creating Kids" is at 90 Audubon Street. For more information, call 789-1622