When you think of traditional preschoolers and activities, your mind is flooded with images of finger painting, crafts, dance, etc. Arts play is the first step to learning in play school. It also plays a significant part in the early learning curriculum across the world.
These are much more than a creative outlet for young kids. It is also an educational tool that promotes mental health, cognitive function, motor skills and linguistics.
Fostering a Love for Art and Craft in Young Children
Studies show the benefits of introducing art into your kid’s curriculum. Studies by the University of Southern California outline that kids’ brains develop faster through music and art training. The same holds for older kids as well and the results of the same assert the importance of critical thinking, reading and communication skills.
Hence, for preschool students, this is a critical aspect of early development and learning. For kids, it is a chance of learning while playing.
Other benefits of adding art and craft into your child’s development plans –
Cognitive development
For preschoolers and early learners, art can be a form of experimentation. This helps to boost their creativity and imagination but also aids in absorbing new information.
As the children interact with materials, colours and other art supplies, they learn about interesting stuff like movements, shapes, designing, etc. Using such activities frequently can help you to help enable them to hone critical thinking skills.
Cause and effect
By choosing art and craft supplies, learners understand the cause-and-effect relationship. For example – helping learn about shading by varying the pressure exerted on the pen, creating colour schemes, etc.
This helps them to explore their crafting style, build on existing skills and create a solid foundation.
Honing the motor skills
Students love creating artwork and the entire process associated with it. When kids use crayons, sequins, glue, scissors, etc. they improve their motor skills.
Such movements improve dexterity and coordination. This is a great idea to improve hand-eye coordination.
Improves recognition skills
As a parent, you may feel confused about the best way to grab your kid’s attention. You may also be tired of retelling the same story again and again. Although, these are tiring yet can be vital to their linguistic development.
Similarly, art and craft are crucial to hone a kid’s vocabulary and promoting their development. This is because your child learns to draw new objects or paint them which promotes his recognition skills. To ease the process, you can start the process using a colouring book and then gradually start with the independent crafts.
Promoting language skills
By helping your child to paint and draw, you promote their artistic abilities. Similarly, encouraging them to show their work and talk about the same can be a good idea. This helps to boost a child’s imagination and they bring complex stories to life.
Self-confidence
By encouraging participation in arts and crafts, you promote your child’s confidence.
With such activities, they learn to take risks and take charge of their work. It is recommended to avoid criticism as it can damage self-confidence and limit creativity.
Promotes constructive attention
Instead of staying glued to TV and smartphones, promoting art and craft helps your kids to burn their energy. It acts as a stress reliever and supports their emotional development.
For shy kids, it can be a great way to express themselves. It is also a perfect way to engage your kids during their holidays.
Ways to support creativity at Home
Participation in artistic activities must go beyond the standard curriculum. As a parent, you can encourage the kids to choose a new craft every day. This helps to facilitate learning and self-expression. Apart from arts being the initial modes of settling down into thepreschool centres, these help in encouraging young kids to share their ideas.
Here are tips to promote creativity at home –
- Do offer your kid the opportunity to explore and experience new stuff. Engage them in open-ended activities.
- Avoid sticking to rigid assignments or crafts. Choose stuff that is age-appropriate and fun. For complex activities, participate in the process.
- Give your kids ample opportunities to explore. Experiment using chalk, crayons, stickers, play-doh, etc. Choosing such products can help them to expand their expression and learning.
- Let your kids play and draw their preferred artwork. This means that artwork must help them to explore instead of making meaningful contributions.
- Choose beads, colours, etc. to ensure that kids learn to choose their favourite drawing medium. However, avoid giving sharp objects, etc. that can harm them.
Don’ts
- Offer support but avoid leading. Help your kids to choose and use crafts in their way.
- Avoid focusing on the final version. However, help them take pride in their artwork and place their creations on your refrigerator doors, etc.
- Avoid feeling embarrassed about the poor outcomes. Good things take practice and introduce artwork into your evening routines.
- Help elder siblings to aid the younger ones in the process. It promotes teamwork and communication. Again, help them avoid criticism of the outcome.
