Encouraging art and creativity in your children
If you're reading this article, chances are you have a creative soul and love to let your immagination soar - because - why else would you be visiting a site aimed at crafts, hobbies and other such creative pursuits?You may well be talented and artistic however, have your children inherited this creativeness and resourcefullness? And if they haven't - are there ways you can stimulate an interest in them? Here are a few tips as to what you can do…
Encourage your children to be creative by providing them with the time, resurces and the space for making art.Set aside some interruption-free quality time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Ensure that you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are ‘caught’ – because nothing squishes creativity more so than a parent saying “Don’t make a mess” every 2 minutes.
It is also very important to choose the right drawing materials as well. Many craft materials can be improvised, think of decorated kitchen roll tubes and potatoes as stamps, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Always ensure that you check safety information and follow instructions. During any ‘art-time’ children should always be surpervised because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.
Surroundings: As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. A child-size table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. A coffee table and an inexpensive plastic chair work well. A small kitchen storage trolley is ideal for containing supplies, or if space does not permit, a portable tackle box is a good option too. Untidy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!
Art Materials: Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore a waste of money. Provide many sheets of blank paper to inspire their crativity and occasionally invest in a canvas so that your child can paint something and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall!Also provide coloring books or coloring pages – of which you’ll find plenty online. Granted – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need to simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw.
For example little girls may enjoy coloring images of Barbie and at sites like Barbie Coloring Pages you’ll find the best free Barbie coloring
When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of your child’s life provide….
Toddlers
- Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
- Chalk boards and safe chalk
- Plain paper and coloring pages
Juniors
- Sketchbook
- Student colored pencils
- Washable Markers
- Oil pastels
- Plain paper and coloring pages
Middle School
- Sketchbook or scrapbook
- Graphite Pencils
- Watercolor sketch paper
- Watercolor pencils
- Marker pens, marker paper
- Plain paper and coloring pages
High School
- Sketchbook or scrapbook
- Quality drawing papers and boards
- Graphite Pencils
- Artists’ quality colored pencils
- Illustration markers, marker paper
- Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
- Plain paper and canvases to work on
All ages
- Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
- A folder for storing large pieces
- Storage boxes for smaller pieces
- Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.
Arts and Crafts – the benefits to your children
The benefits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring for kids are frequently argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they have on child development. However, it is difficult to argue with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to take part in arts and crafts.
Creativity – If you were to ask a cross section of individuals what is the first personality characteristic that arts and crafts will develop in a young child – most would answer ‘creativity’. And they are correct. Everyone has natural talents and skills and it is possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a little natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and benefit from new
ideas, options and alternatives in any future career. Kids learn to do things in new ways and literally profiting from thinking “out of the box”.
Perseverance – Perseverance is perhaps the single most important quality for any successful individual – be they a a business person, sportsman or other professional.In fact, most well-known accomplishments in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance. For instance, children learn to keep trying until they complete the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet.If something unexpected goes wrong… they are encouraged to persist by trying new ways and means and the pay-off is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.
Concentration – Similar to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual. Drawing, coloring, sculpting, painting and even doodling will definitely teach your child to focus on one specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In short they overall concentration will definitely improve.
Even from a young age children can draw and color – so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble away to their hearts content whilst also improving their fine motor skills.
For example little girls enjoy coloring images of princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best fairy colouring
Little boys on the other hand prefer pictures of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies are also hits with little boys.
Give your child several opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials and resources and the occasional canvas so that they can be creative and feel pride in what they create.