.The Woodworking Bus:

 over 15,000 kids in LA County have thrived aboard our Woodworking Buses — mobile wood shops aboard renovated transit buses and our new mobile studio trailers- where kids age 5-11 learn about art, design, and engineering using only hand tools, raw materials, and their imagination. Each Mobile Woodworking Classroom has 10-15 height-adjustable workstations custom made for children. Each station is equipped with saws, hand drills, screwdrivers, supplies and materials: everything needed to create a multitude of projects using white pine as the primary material. There are two artist-teachers per bus, providing a 5:1 student/teacher ratio at all times.

 We created this program in response to the lack of visual arts (and manual arts) programs in LA County public schools. Our goal is to teach children how to use tools safely, effectively and (ultimately) independent of adult assistance. Kids make a variety of projects that increase in complexity as they progress through the program. They accumulate a working knowledge of techniques like as sanding, sawing, shaping, drilling, setting screws, using clamps, hammering, and incising. After only a few sessions on the bus, kids are confident and competent enough to create projects of their own unique design. This is the program’s ultimate goal.

Get Your Kids On The Bus!
The Woodworking Bus is perfect for public schools, home schoolers, private schools, day-time curriculum integration, after-school programs, birthday parties, community events, and summer camps. In fact, we do all of the above, 7-days-a-week, all year long. To find out more, contact us at info@sidestreet.org, or call (626) 798-7774.

On-Site Workshops: After School & Morning Home Schooler Classes Booking Now!
You and your kids can be part of the only mobile (and sustainable) community art center in the USA. By popular demand, we’re offering on-site Woodworking Bus classes at our Pasadena headquarters throughout the year.

/  /  /  / Onsite classes booking now @  SIDESTREET.ORG/ONSITE

Alternate Routes: Education on Wheels — “The Woodworking Bus” is made possible by the Leonard I. Green Foundation, The Pasadena Arts League, The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs , The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation, The Ahmanson Foundation, The Rowe and Gayle Giesen Trust. Special thanks to Shelia Dawson.

This program is also made possible in part by the Pasadena Arts Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division.