To a child with a crayon anything can become a canvas. For parents wanting to spur their kid’s artistic ambitions (and spare their walls) the Children’s Art Lab will soon offer budding Picassos an outlet.

“I like the idea of kids being able to come into a space without coloring pages,” said Benares Angeley of Mattapoisett. “What I’m after is to make sure they are involved in the creative process, and that the kids form their own ideas on what interests them.”

Angeley, the lab’s owner and director, will host an open house on Saturday, Jan. 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the space, located at 92 North St. Classes start the week of Jan. 11.

Angeley, who earned a masters of fine arts degree from UMass Dartmouth, said the space will have open studio hours for parents and children to make art together. Drop-off classes and lessons combining music, movement and art will be featured, too.

Loaded with a wide variety of materials to work with, the Art Lab is designed to give kids the opportunity to tinker and make their own discoveries.

“I chose to call this space an ‘art lab’ because as an artist I am well aware of the intersection of science and art in my daily studio practice,” she said. “Making art is about experimenting.”

Providing kids with an open-ended approach to art is a practice she discovered in San Francisco. In 1999, she was working in a children’s art center similar to her new business, but it lacked open studio hours.

Angeley said she hopes the Art Lab fills a niche for South Coast parents and kids.

“As a parent myself, there have been times when I’m looking for something to do with my kids,” she said. “This is a nurturing environment where children can experiment with materials, get messy and discover creative methods of self-expression.”

In addition to her artistic background, Angeley has 20 years of educational experience. She’s taught a range of ages from kids in preschool to seniors in high school, though the bulk of her career has been with kids 5 and younger.

For more information on the Children’s Art Lab and to register for classes, contact Angeley at childrensartlab@gmail.com or childrensartlabblogspot.com.