When you see your child deeply engrossed in crayons, bringing her thoughts to paper, the smile on her face as she makes a masterpiece with her fingers and paints, trying to recreate her experience of that wonderful holiday you all just had, when she brings a colourful smowman she has just made out of play doh, you know art / drawing/ coloring is so much more than just a way to keep your child engaged.
Art may seem like a great pastime for children but it is an unmatched learning tool. It aids in their all-round development and teaches plenty of life-skills.
Creativity and Imagination
This is a no-brainer. When a child is allowed to express herself freely through any art medium, it encourages and draws out the creative juices. Letting a child play with colors, clay, sand, it all inspires free-thinking and experimentation.
To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. – Thomas A Edison
Problem-solving
When a child uses that play-doh or clay to make an animal, a tree, a flower, she is constantly faced with challenges.
How many legs should I make? Which colors should I choose? Should the head be smaller than the body or vice-versa? Which block should I put to make that wall for Humpty Dumpty?
A child discovers her own ways to solve these problems. And we should try and resist telling them the correct way according to us.
Faber – Castell Craft Scissors (Pack Of 4 cuts)
Communication skills
We came back from a beach holiday recently which my child enjoyed immensely. I asked her to tell what she remembers from the holiday and she said beach and waves and friends. Then while drawing she made this picture which I had no idea about.
I asked her what it was and she said it was the ‘mushroom house’, which reminded me of this little place in one of the resort’s gardens, which looked like a mushroom. We did not pay much attention to it, but it had obviously caught her eye.
Motor skills
Art is the best way to develop fine motor skills in children. Those tons of scribbled pages are what will eventually make her master that pincher grip to hold the pencil. Applying glue to paste that paper within the circle, matching the sticker to its correct place on the picture, making balls with clay or dough all help the child in honing and fine-tuning those fine-motor skills.
Faber Castell Grip Erasable Crayons 24 Pcs. (Pack of 2 sets)
Parents or care-givers must resist the temptation to correct the child as they deem fit. Art is a beautiful journey for child to learn and unlearn and relearn at her own pace.
“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.” – Maria Montessori
For more Art and Craft ideas visit ShishuWorld Funzone
This is guest post by Reena K, a mother to a 3 years old and a passionate reader and crafter.
