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It’s important that children are physically ready to begin drawing activities for kids at home. Focus on exercising shoulder and arm muscles (gross motor skills). Here are some great ideas to get your child moving. Get her to climb a tree or pull herself up using her arms, swirl and dance with a coloured ribbon stuck to a stick in wide arcs, sweep with a broom, fill and empty toy buckets, draw giant chalk circles on the driveway, in fact, anything that will get your child stretching up or across her body!

Then get her to work on exercising her wrist and finger muscles. (fine motor skills) essential for gripping tools. Here are some ideas for developing these muscles — threading beads and sewing games, kneading play-dough, using tweezers to pick up tiny objects, and involving her in stacking games.

Most of what your will be needing can be found around in your home itself.

As muscles and control develop, your child will automatically progress to using crayons or chalk to draw big circles and straight lines on paper. This type of drawing is often dismissed as squiggles and doodles but is actually an important step in learning to draw.

Remember, for a toddler learning to control any tool, such as a pencil, crayon or paintbrush is hard and requires a lot of practice. Hand-eye coordination is also key for drawing as is the need for your child to build up control in her hands and fingers. Many of these skills can be supported by ensuring your child is physically active through play for at least an hour and a half, daily.

Parents can be most supportive by providing some basic art material. Drawing can become a major part of kids’ activities. It does not require expensive inputs – just a pencil, an eraser and a few sheets of paper and then leaves your child to get on with it.

The importance of drawing and painting in child development becomes even more meaningful as drawing stimulates and nurtures the imagination. The best way to encourage your child is when you avoid comparing your child’s drawing to another child’s work. Do not push or put your child under pressure to draw.

If you notice that she is hesitant, sit down with her and start to draw yourself – she might decide to join if you can make it look fun! Being able to draw will lay a solid foundation for your child to be able to write when the time comes for it.

Realize that at her age, the process of drawing is more important than what she actually creates. Encouraging her effort will have more impact than focusing on the outcome. Understand that drawing for children can become a soothing activity. Some children may take to drawing as a duck would take to the water.

Offering encouragement and guiding her, providing lots of opportunities to draw using different media, and investing the time to ensure your child is comfortable and gains confidence will be a big help. In other words, it is important for you to nurture and appreciate the effort your child puts into a drawing. It pays to take it more seriously.

Whether a child draws like a genius or not doesn’t matter. Rest assured, drawing activities for kids at home will play a critical role in your child’s development and growth. Value it, appreciate the effort, and use what your child draws as a springboard for initiating meaningful conversations and opportunities for strengthening bonding.

Improve how your child communicates: 

As stated earlier, toddlers and young children cannot always find the right words and actions to express themselves. But by looking at what they draw, parents can gain insight into their child’s thoughts and feelings. Apart from this, being able to express freely helps boost a child’s emotional intelligence.

Help your child think clearly: 

When your child begins to draw, she is faced with multiple decisions and choices — whether it’s ‘what colour should I use here?’ or ‘How do I draw an aeroplane and connect one part of its body to another?’ ‘How many petals should my flower have?’ ‘Should I make each petal look different?’ All these questions require her to solve problems. You can learn a lot by asking questions such as, why did she draw certain parts of the flower the way she did? Why she used one colour and not another? See what answers your child comes up with to justify her decisions.

Stimulate your child’s imagination: 

Drawing sets your child’s imagination free. Each time she draws, she learns to access her imagination and is able to put down on paper what she has in her mind. As she becomes more adept at drawing, your child will be able to create all the things she imagines and notices around her. You really cannot fathom what your child’s boundless imagination can bring to life!

Make your child future-ready: 

Drawing lays the foundation for logical thinking or abstract thought. Whether your child is still at home with you or at school already, drawing helps her prepare for understanding difficult concepts and ideas. Learning creative ways of thinking at an early age prepares your child for future education.

Don’t forget to provide a variety of materials to draw with, and don’t ignore digital media tools. It makes sense to help your child get used to tablets and other smart devices she will be using frequently in the future.

Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers and young children to think different, be innovative, and devise ways to learn about interesting things found in the real world. Changing the way a child discovers and imagines. Igniting her mind to think, play and learn like never before.

If you like to enrol your child in drawing classes for kids or participate in cognitive learning activities, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make an appointment with the head of a centre near you.

Get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art in a way that adds value to your child’s life.

Please note: Abrakadoodle classrooms are thoroughly sanitized every day — the tables, the chairs, the children’s activity stations and everything else the child might touch is made safe and clean. They also wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, and practice social distancing.

STEAM programs encourage preschoolers to use all of their senses to explore the world around them. Learning to use their sense of seeing, touch, hearing, smell and speech naturally lead to boosting fine motor skills, and developing language to communicate about what children observe.

Furthermore, the safe learning environment of the home allows children to push themselves to try new ideas and gain the confidence needed to use new tools and experiment with unfamiliar items.

Young children who embrace STEAM skills in their infancy are shown to have a better chance of transitioning into the rigours of school life with ease. High comfort levels and increased self-confidence translate to better performances.

So if you have a child aged 1 to 4, now is the time to give careful consideration to begin participating in STEAM activities for preschoolers and learn about how they can be incorporated into your child’s life for the best possible outcomes.

Science is centred on our capacity to wonder about things that are tangible and intangible. It is always driven by our desire to explore. It’s about ourselves, others, the natural world and our interdependence – as a matter of fact, it is the basis of our very reason to be. We engage with science through a growth mindset and the effective use of our senses.

Only a scientific approach to this urge will be able to sustain and nurture our children. Propelling their desire to learn to investigate, observe, test, predict, evaluate and gather evidence. Its absence will forever undermine and relegate our children to leading a life without beauty, and wonder and suppress the desire to know more.

The truth is children are born curious and inquisitive. The interconnection of all life on Earth is an essential core and leads young children to stimulate their natural curiosity and nurture the desire to connect. Our future depends on a child’s understanding of this fact. 

Technology is about being able to put our thoughts and ideas into action and creating things that work for the general well-being of mankind. 

There are images of, and literature about mechanical vehicles through the ages – from the penny-farthings to the steam engine to flying machines – all provoking conceptual analysis of how technological skills have developed over time.

Buildings and structures are also the keys, they tell and introduce our children to inspiring examples from across the world, including the Great Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal. By studying these wonders, children get to see and understand how human thinking and skill have changed the world.

Children need to see and be inspired to have real solutions to real problems and apply their skills to effect positive change.

Engineering is design thinking and innovation working together. Children need the time to explore and come up with a solution to an identified problem and have the opportunity to design and redesign based on their observations and findings. This is when children will be able to explore how to problem-solve in all aspects of their life.

Thinking about engineering, children learn to deconstruct. That is understanding the validity of being able to break a complex concept down into smaller and more manageable parts.

Through abstraction, children learn how to eliminate unnecessary and unhelpful detail so that they can achieve clarity when pursuing an outcome.

And finally, through collaboration children get a handle on the value of teamwork, understanding working together with others is sometimes more successful than working alone.

Engineering in other words is about taking all of our skills and our wonderings to create something the world may have never seen before. Sometimes invent something truly amazing!

Art is at the core of STEAM education and is the spark that motivates children to engage. For that to happen, it will be essential that we allow children to explore their creativity and as parents and adults, we need to understand and respect a child’s need to develop her creative thinking abilities.

Every child’s potential needs to be seen as a window through which they can see their world. And to help a child express her creativity, we need to provide stimulating opportunities and environments on a daily basis. Empower children to think, wonder, question, explore and express themselves.

Celebrate the freedom of expression, and allow the uniqueness of creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and innovative processes to take centre stage in everyone’s lives. 

Art plays a central role in aiding and developing the creative process. Creativity becomes a reality only when adults become more attentive to facilitating the cognitive processes of young children, rather than being concerned with the end results they achieve in various fields of doing and understanding. 

Maths is so much more than recognizing shapes and counting numbers! Maths is when everything is seen from a mathematical perspective and success in it is achieved through a mindset which is open, analytical and curious.

Maths is seen as both a rigid and creative subject. It is both serious and fun. Maths is for everyone, including young children. Every child can be taught to believe in their abilities to master maths.

Children will achieve success in many different fields of study only when they adopt and have a positive approach to mathematical learning.

STEAM activities for preschoolers touch upon every sphere of their lives. And since they are already digital natives, the more relevant the STEAM phenomenon becomes. For instance, more and more children will benefit from a networked system of learning that shows them how mathematics isn’t an isolated disciplinary universe, but an effective tool with which they can approach and solve problems in other disciplines — most importantly, doing so in a way that imitates real-life conditions. 

STEAM programs accelerate not only the development of crucial cognitive skills but also benefit rapid progress in acquiring social and communication skills to enable active collaboration – the perfect combination for success in the digital age.

When your child takes part in STEAM-based activities, her interactions with other children, or adults increase and become a critical process. Remember, a shared curiosity and joint investigations can send a child’s love of learning to a whole new level.

Steam activities for preschoolers close a gap that earlier generations may have experienced when in school. Education is now closer to establishing itself as a natural process of social interaction in which the focus is always on the process and development of the learner, and not so much on the final result of a specific standardized test.

Nothing is more rewarding for parents than seeing their child having fun while learning something new and strengthening her 21st century skills. Coding is a phenomenal way for your child to learn in a non-threatening environment.

Coding is among the master keys to developing critical thinking abilities through active collaboration, boosting your child’s creativity, and increasing her levels of both self-confidence and self-esteem. Children also get to learn while understanding that mistakes are nothing more than experiences that pave the way for more learning.

When engaged and working with STEAM projects in their infancy, young children practice a whole range of developing soft skills in real time. They learn to be effective and collaborative and highly adaptable. The work they do requires a large portion of creativity, listening skills, task management, and problem-solving skills, and develops empathy towards finding an effective solution and coming up with multiple variations of the solution.

There are numerous ways to start a child’s journey in STEAM enrichment programs. However, the most essential component of any educational technique needs to be driven by engaging activities. Enabling children to comprehend how and why things happen the way they do. Shows them that when hands-on learning is actually applied in a fun, safe environment, learning can be engaging and enjoyable.

Children can indeed become way better in their own areas of interest and reach their full potential. Enjoying not only their learning process but also developing a genuine hunger for new knowledge. Their success, however, will depend upon the intensity of passion, the one element that can propel a creative genius to become a game changer!

Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers and young children to think differently, be innovative, and devise ways to learn about interesting things found in the real world. Changing the way a child discovers and imagines ignites her mind to think, play, and learn like never before.

If you would like to enrol your child in our children’s art classes or participate in cognitive learning activities, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make an appointment with the head of a centre near you.

Get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art in a way that adds value to your child’s life.

Please note: Abrakadoodle classrooms are thoroughly sanitized every day — the tables, the chairs, the children’s activity stations, and everything else the child might touch are made safe and clean. They also wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, and practice social distancing.

Art and craft workshops are a great way to spend quality time with family as children tend to express and share their ideas with them freely, actively seeking their help. As the frequency of these interactions multiplies, it strengthens the bond between children and their parents and caregivers. As a bonus, parents also end up creating a repository of art and craft that helps bring back fond memories of their children growing up.

In life ‘knowing how’ is just as important as ‘knowing why’. Art and craft introduce children to a range of intellectual and practical skills. Helping young become lifelong learners by exposing them to frequent opportunities to think out of the box and develop confidence in other subjects and pick up life skills.

The benefits of art and craft in early childhood play a crucial role as these benefits will be at the centre of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEAM). They also provide an introduction to potentially lucrative careers in the visual arts, digital and design and new media industries, sectors that contribute significantly to the economy and reputation of a country on the competitive international world-class platform.

Benefits of arts and crafts include helping improve cognitive development in children by sparking their creativity and imagination. By providing your child with different materials to work with, you will be giving her an opportunity to let her imagination run wild and to start building those all-important creative thinking skills for later use in life.

Studies confirm that a child who is exposed to the arts acquires a special ability to think creatively, be original, discover, innovate, and create intellectual property — key attributes for individual success and social prosperity in the twenty-first century. “Art is not just art, it is communication, inspiration, point of view, and a bridge that links us all up.” – Chung Kei Ting in Hong Kong [Source]

Most people think of art as something children do just for fun. However, art plays a very important role in a child’s emotional development. Through art, children learn how to express their emotions, cope with stress, and interact with other people in a healthy manner.

Arts and crafts workshops help children find new ways to express themselves in new ways and build on their self-esteem and self-worth. Art is an extremely valuable activity for children of all ages as it helps develop a core sense of self-esteem — vital for every child.

Creativity and imagination are two skills that arts and crafts workshops help manifest in children. By giving them the opportunity to be creative and use their imaginations, arts and crafts can help foster a love of creativity that will last a lifetime, as well as help them generate new ideas and find new solutions in all aspects of life. 

Art and craft workshops help children practise mindfulness, as they show how a child can bring her attention to the present moment. Practising mindfulness helps children become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and body sensations. It also helps them learn how to control their reactions to stress and emotions.

This is also why art and craft is important in early years: When children learn to focus their attention on the present moment, they become less impulsive and more aware of their own feelings, be able to lower stress and minimise anxiety levels. When mindfulness is learned early in life, children are able to regulate their emotions when interacting with immediate peers and adults later in life.

Art and craft workshops encourage interactions, teamwork and socialisation in children as this requires children to work together and find common ground to complete a task. This helps children learn how to cooperate and get along with others, as well as make new friends.

Teamwork and socialisation skills are vital as they help children form lasting relationships and allow them to be successful in both their personal and professional life.

Flexibility, is among the first important life skills children pick up from art and craft workshops. This is because children begin to see the need to come up with new solutions when things don’t go as planned.

This will help them in other areas of their lives as unexpected situations will no longer throw them off balance. Instead, they will learn to pick themselves up, adapt quickly to changing situations, and develop the ability to expect the unexpected.

As a child’s brain is constantly learning and growing, it is important to provide your child with a wide range of art and craft supplies that can stimulate her interest and keep her engaged. The more diverse the range of art materials you source, the easier it will become to create more opportunities to learn and grow.

Arts and craft workshops are helpful in fostering the development of specific motor, cognitive, linguistic, and pre-academic skills. They also allow for interpersonal exchanges that are vital for brain development, lifelong learning, and social-emotional competence. Art and craft activities for children allow them to be creative, think outside the box, and solve problems.

Creating a ‘worry’ doll:

A ‘worry’ doll is a small toy you can help your child create so that she can then pass all her worries to the doll. Psychologically, a doll becomes a useful device to help children become more aware and mindful of their emotions, feelings and worries. 

These dolls are easy to make, all you need is toothpicks or pipe cleaners, spools of knitting wool and colourful twine to make tiny ‘worry’ dolls. Involve your child by talking about worry dolls and how they might be useful to her.

Help your child gather all of the materials you need to make the ‘worry’ doll. Once she has collected everything she needs, show her how to make one. Let your child decide how many ‘worry’ dolls she wants to make.

While she is engaged in making the first one, give your child the background as to why she is making one for herself. Explain to your child that everyone has worries and it will be OK to tell you about them, or in your absence, share them with her ‘worry’ doll.

Show her how she can do this effectively. Ask your child to focus on her breathing and spend a few minutes talking to the doll about her worries. Transferring them to her doll and asking her to take care of them. She can then put away her dolls until she needs them doll again. 

Painting & Drawing:

Painting, doodling and drawing are activities that provide a wealth of development benefits for children. They make children creative, help them explore their imagination, and improve their dexterity and coordination, all at the same time.
Plus, it is not expensive. All that you would need is a piece of paper and some crayons or paint. Another big benefit art and craft activities bring to young children are helping them focus on fine motor skills as they begin experimenting with a variety of fabrics, materials, colours and things of different shapes and sizes.

As children learn to handle a pair of scissors safely, cut and paste, hold crayons or anything else, they are actually strengthening their muscles and improving dexterity and learning to coordinate their eyes and hands. It is a fun, absorbing, colourful, and liberating experience. Little wonder then, why children enjoy art and craft workshops so much.

Using nature to nurture:

It is important for children to initiate and develop activities for themselves. They must have opportunities to revisit and practise their physical skills in ways meaningful to them to build confidence and independence. For instance, it is very important for children to learn about nature.

For instance, creating a nature collage consisting of leaves, flowers, and twigs and use naturally occurring material that they take a fancy to. Hand painting rocks and tiles, using wooden sticks to build houses, cutting leaves dipping them in paint and using it to print patterns on a cloth or paper among many others… 

The best learning is when a child is relaxed, absorbed in her surroundings collecting things she would need to make a nature collage. Having so much fun while playing, she doesn’t even realise that she’s picking up new skills. That’s the real magic of the art and craft workshops. 

Creating a tiger mask:

Children love making masks of their favourite animals and superheroes. My child’s favourite animal is the tiger and it was time to create a mask for her to wear to a birthday party.

First, we got hold of a large piece of cardboard and as my child was too young to work with a pair of scissors, I helped her cut the board into the shape of a tiger’s face and ears. Made sure this would cover her face snugly and used an elastic band to hold it in place. 

Then we began to colour the board with bright yellow as a background first. Drew four long outlines of stripes on either sides of the tiger’s nose in pencil and asked my child to fill in the outline with black. Finally, we used white paint to complete the jaws and mouth. The birthday facemask would be ready for the party once the paint dried. 

Painting the tiger mask was good for helping my child with her fine motor skills, taught her turn-taking (with the brushes), improved her self-confidence. She also learned how to paint around the eyeholes developing her control, as well as learning that the flatter brush covered more of the mask faster. 

Discovering the magic of colours:

When your child begins to experiment with colours, she in effect is practising science thinking skills such as cause and effect, learning to predict what can happen, and comparing the results.

Introduce blue, red, and yellow as the “primary colours.” To teach colour matching, help your child combine paints in different colours (mixing red and blue to make purple paint). While taking her through the steps of mixing colours, you will be introducing new words and contexts, enhancing your child’s communication and linguistic skills. 

While viewing the resulting colour combinations, discuss the concept of “secondary colours,” including green, orange, and purple. Your child can also make artwork with shades of colour she created. Doing activities with colour offers children a sense of accomplishment along with a great deal of fun.  

Another big benefit is getting your child to use different tools such as droppers, brushes, sponges, craft sticks, and fingers! This way you will encourage further development of her fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and visual judgement.

Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers and young children to think different, be innovative, and explore new ways to learn about interesting things found in the real world. Changing the way a child discovers and imagines. Igniting her mind to think, play and learn like never before.

If you like to enrol your child in our art and craft workshops or find out why creativity is important in early childhood education, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make an appointment with the head of a centre near you. Get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art in a way that adds value to your child’s life.

Please note: Abrakadoodle classrooms are thoroughly sanitized every day — the tables, the chairs, the children’s activity stations and everything else the child might touch is made safe and clean. They also wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, and practice social distancing.

Art helps bridge the gap between STEM subjects better than anything else can. It enables young children to go full steam ahead, helping them see science, technology, English and math as art and beauty. Creating and nurturing a genuine liking and changing the way children view these disciplines. Art classes are an effective way to minimise the complexity of these subjects and make learning enjoyable and fun.

Doing hands-on projects and experiments that involve the arts solidifies a child’s understanding of science concepts. And when they get to see these concepts in action, children are inspired to seek them out. Plus, the creative process itself helps boost the capacity to remember.

Art also connects your child’s interests to the real world. Children interact better with things they can touch, see, or understand how to use in everyday life. A wonderful aspect of art is that it’s just another way to interface their interests in the real world with the STEM disciplines.

Arts show children how to be creative problem solvers, and realize and understand the value of making mistakes. Mental arithmetic and equation-solving abilities are important skills for children to possess, but creative approaches to problem-solving truly make a difference. Art creates the space for children to make mistakes and learn from them. Because in art, there is never a right or wrong way or answer.

More importantly, art gives children the freedom to experiment and choose and create something that is unique and original. Not only is art a healthy way to tap into the power of individuality and self-expression, but in the world of work, abilities like creativity and innovation are actively promoted and highly valued.

Critical thinking is the ability to resist gut impulses and instead look carefully at the available information, consider multiple interpretations of that information, and come to a conclusion that is rationally defensible.

Art helps young children to observe their world more closely. This process enables young children to look more carefully, and observe and analyze the world around them.

Young children who are involved in art show increased levels of tolerance and empathy. This is because experiencing art exposes children to viewpoints outside of their own. They come face-to-face with other children and their ideas. Helping them learn to see the world outside of themselves and tolerate the differences they encounter.

Discussing the artwork of peers or adults further helps children to look at the world around them through different eyes. It teaches them that not everyone’s idea or view of something is the same, nor does it have to be.

Actively involved in producing art changes the wiring of the brain, improving areas that help young children to manage stress. Helping them to communicate visually about both how they see and experience the world, and how they feel about it.

Art contributes to helping establish a three-way relationship between the enhancement of life, values and attitudes, and meeting a range of emotional needs. Valid reasons to encourage your child to participate in art activities.

The arts offer children opportunities for complex and dynamic modes of thought and communication. When children begin to use visual art to make meaning, their capacity for realistic thinking and for mentally manipulating and organizing ideas, images, and feelings increases.

From a cognitive perspective, when children make art, they integrate their memories, experiences, observations, and imagination. They also create at their own individual level of learning and draw on their own strengths, abilities, and aptitudes.

Art stimulates parts of the brain that are responsible for problem-solving, focusing, and memory. Problem-solving skills are developed over time, enabling children to find creative solutions for ordinary problems in their day-to-day life through what they’ve learned. This is an important developmental skill set. As a matter of fact, the ability to use art as a medium of learning will limit cognitive development, especially in children.

Children develop their fine motor skills through visual art experiences as well. Many art activities involve the hands and fingers and help children to develop good fine motor control. For instance, playing with dough, handling a pair of scissors, picking up tiny pieces of paper with a tweezer, and threading beads, all play an important role in developing finger strength and dexterity.

Research in child psychology, for instance, substantiates this with evidence of how children can use art to explore ideas and communicate their cognitive processes. It concludes that art is not an extra but rather an essential component of early cognitive development in children. [Source]

Art has fewer rules than many other subjects, children are often free to choose the direction that they want to take, and so naturally end up internally asking themselves numerous questions and solving problems as the work progresses. This leads to a real sense of ownership over what they produce. In art, the outcome does not matter as much as the skills learned during the task.

As stated earlier, children feel more comfortable in art because this is a subject where there is no ‘right answer’. They are free to explore their ideas, and so become more at ease with the uncertainty. As a result, children are more likely to experiment and try out new ideas. They are less likely to give up when they encounter a problem or when things don’t end up as they had planned it. Art helps boost self-discipline and resilience in a natural way.

Art is an outlet for children to release the pressures of everyday life. It is a calming activity that shows children that they are in control. Creativity is also well recognized for its potential to heal, express hidden emotions, reduce stress, fear and anxiety, and promote a sense of independence.

Young children express a sense of enjoyment and achievement in creating art. They also demonstrate greater levels of motivation, self-awareness, and community engagement.

Through art, children gain creative and life skills, including design, use of color, painting, and independent decision making as well as the ability to adapt their plans as their ideas change and evolve. Flexibility becomes an effective means of coping with life in real time. [Source]

Engaging in the arts is inspiring for children, opening up new possibilities for them in terms of creative expression and imagination. It stimulates the ability to question and connect with other children and the world. Art also helps nurture positive aspirations and develop the resilience to manage challenging life circumstances.

Creativity is linked with promoting well-being — the more children are allowed to explore their individual identities and develop their sense of self, the more content they will be within themselves. Art – in its broader sense is beneficial in providing moments of mindfulness, quality downtime and escape from fast-paced life.

Probably the most important factor, art is a fun way to make time fly. When a child is actively involved and totally immersed in what she is creating, it relieves boredom and its negative effects. Having fun and enjoying yourself is good for your mental health simply due to the fact it can uplift your mood and give you a sense of satisfaction that you did something positive and productive with your day.

Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers and young children to think differently, be innovative, and explore new ways to learn about interesting things found in the real world. Changing the way a child discovers and imagines. Igniting her mind to think, play, and learn like never before.

If you would like to enrol your child in our art classes for kids program or find out more about why art classes for childhood development are important, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make an appointment with the head of a centre near you. Get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art in a way that adds value to your child’s life.

Please note: Abrakadoodle classrooms are thoroughly sanitized every day — the tables, the chairs, the children’s activity stations and everything else the child might touch is made safe and clean. They also wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, and practice social distancing.

This Blog is originally published on Abrakadoodle Blog

• Art lessons for children help develop and enhance awareness and understanding of the world, particularly the natural world and the world we live in. around the visual arts, through a thorough study of design principles and observational practices.

   

• Art lessons for children help children recognize design elements such as lines, shapes, colours, and space. Become familiar with the visual structure of objects and scenes.
• Introduce children to an array of art materials and more contemporary and innovative art techniques.

• Help children engage and fully understand the principles of visual arts. Be able to access their visual intelligence and enhance their capability to solve problems.

   

• Enable children to make art that reflects their understanding of life and its experiences. Be able to present their ideas in cogent, original, and convincing ways.

This is a place to start your child’s love affair with art and creative expression. Apart from giving children numerous opportunities to enjoy and exercise their creative thinking abilities, mindful activity engages young minds to explore and discover effective learning processes that support positive educational outcomes. 

Mindfulness stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to the world we live in. And art enables children to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. Furthermore, children become involved in shaping their environments through art activities.

Art is valuable not only as a stand-alone activity but provides the perfect link between all subjects – Science, Technology, English and Math (STEM). As a matter of fact, art can act as a great delivery system for making complex concepts of these subjects easy and simple to understand.

The alignment of the spine and the development of deep stabilising muscles begins early when the baby engages in lots of wriggling and squirming. This continues throughout the first year with ‘tummy time’. It is a natural process.

Going through these normal developmental movement patterns of rolling, belly crawling and creeping on all fours every day, ensures that by the time a baby is able to stand up, she will have a naturally aligned spine, a strong back and a good posture. A child can then moves onto more complex and refined movements of the arms and legs.

Art lesson plans for preschoolers help to develop gross and fine motor skills in very young children. These include movements of larger muscle groups that help with balance and coordination, as well as develop the finer motor skills, which are the smaller muscles in the hands and fingers. These are essential for writing, drawing and other precise actions that need more refined hand-eye coordination.

Arts and crafts activities enhance a child’s dexterity and agility. With the enhancement of both gross and fine motor skills through practice, a child’s manual dexterity, artistic skills, and speed also increase.

Humans are hardwired to express themselves. You just have to look at young children to understand what can happen when they don’t have the words to describe what they are feeling. They let their emotions take off. It could be an angry yell, a scream of joy or an outburst of crying – and sometimes doing all three within a span of two minutes! 

Expressing emotion through art is an incredible way for children to release their feelings before these embed themselves far too deeply and begin to create other problems. Studies show that whenever we suppress or deny an emotion to be what it needs to be, our neural pathways get blocked. Pretty soon, all the feel-good hormones that dictate both our biology and behaviour are unable to flow freely. 

Arts and crafts activities are an effective creative outlet for children to reflect and manage their emotions. It doesn’t matter if it is through painting or drawing or writing, being involved in the process of turning a thought into a tangible piece of art in itself will suffice.

There is no need to follow rules because there aren’t any. When you are creating something that is a reflection of you, it’s best to let your emotions guide you to feel fully and completely. This allows a child’s thoughts and feelings to be moulded into something tangible and real.

Each time your child creates a work of art, she is sharing new ideas, and trying out different ways of expressing herself. Doing this without realising your child is revealing her innermost thoughts and feelings through her artwork.

To be able to have high self-esteem, children must believe in their abilities and in themselves. It’s this self-belief that allows children to try new things, challenge themselves, take criticism, make mistakes and build friendships.

Art lesson plans for preschoolers aim to improve confidence and self-esteem in many ways. It helps children gain the confidence to express themselves freely. Enabling them to channel thoughts and feelings into their artwork and communicate how they are feeling. When children receive positive or constructive feedback, this not only boosts self-esteem but allows children to recognise their own strengths and achievements.

Always try to value effort over perfection. To show them that it’s OK to make mistakes, reassure them that it’s all part of learning and that you too can make mistakes! Make it a point to provide hands-on support. Simply because children learn best by copying what they see, so if they’re learning to draw, help them hold a colouring pencil and guide their hand across the sheet of paper. As they get older and more confident, start art activities but do this separately, this way their need for hands-on support lessens over time.

As art differs greatly from one person to the next, it reinforces your child’s individuality and recognizes her unique existence. Furthermore, the more a child engages with art, the more she will grow in confidence. By learning new techniques and having a better understanding of how art makes her feel, your child’s sense of self-worth will be enhanced and nurtured.

Waiting is a big part of childhood — waiting in line, waiting for your turn, waiting to grow up, waiting for something special to happen. Patience may be a virtue, but as every parent knows it’s not one that many children possess. A child is very impatient by nature and gets distracted easily. 

Teaching patience in children is one of the most important life skills your child can learn while she is young. While teaching patience can seem puzzling at first, you will come across numerous each day when you can reinforce patience with your child without her really noticing you are ‘teaching’ her a lifelong skill. 

Children love to paint and play with colours. While it can be tempting to rush things to get your child to complete her artwork, please don’t interfere with the flow. Your child’s levels of patience will increase and she will soon realise that good things take time! 

Whether it is the duration of the time it takes to complete a piece of art or learn a new artistic technique, it takes patience and dedication. While painting, a child will focus on all aspects like colours, figures to be drawn etc, this requires attention to detail which calls for having patience. Once a child completes her artwork, your child will feel a huge sense of accomplishment and realise that hard work and dedication always pay off. 

For your child to truly grow and progress, there has to be a point when internal motivation needs to be balanced with external motivation. In the early stages, a child will engage in art activities because it is fun. However, this is not enough for learning an art form. At this point, lean on external motivation (awarding stars or giving her a treat) to continue your child’s progress. Remember, both types of motivation will be helpful and productive.

Spontaneous art is liberating. It is the most effective way to release emotions and reduce stress. So allow your child to be impulsive, throwing paint on a blank sheet of paper Pollock style, and start working from there.

Self-expressive art will help your child discover new depth to her thinking she may not have realized were there. She will also realize that it can be applied to so many other areas of her life. In fact, this is what makes art such an important part of early learning.

A lot of the information we have about people and cultures that lived millions of years ago came solely from art. A culture without art isn’t possible. Art is at the very core of our identity as humans. The greatest skill we can give our children and humanity is an understanding, appreciation, and ability to create art.

When children have hands-on experience in arts and crafts, they begin to reflect critically on their own work and those of others. They learn to act and think like designers, working intelligently and creatively. By engaging in creative pursuits, children get the opportunity to think and act in a positive, tangible and meaningful way. 

According to the International Child Art Foundation, “Research indicates that a child who is exposed to the arts acquires a special ability to think creatively, be original, discover, innovate, and create intellectual property — key attributes for individual success and social prosperity in the twenty-first century.” 

Art is a great equalizer, helping create a common ground for children who don’t know each other and who may or may not be interested in the same things. It can help children of all ages, races, abilities, and even languages engage in a shared activity. 

When participating with other children in art class, for instance, gives children a chance to interact with others while sharing common interests. The process of arts and crafts also strengthens parent-child bonding.

Abrakadoodle is  dedicated to supporting children in the early years and building strong foundations to ensure they get the best head start. Process Art learning experiences, for instance, inspire toddlers and young children to think differently, be innovative, and explore new ways to learn about interesting things found in the real world.

Our art lessons also change the way a child discovers and imagines. Igniting her mind to think, play and learn like never before. If you like to enrol your child in our art classes or find out more about why art classes for childhood development is important, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make an appointment with the head of a centre near you.

You will get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art therapy in a way that adds value to your child’s life.

Please note: Abrakadoodle classrooms are thoroughly sanitized every day — the tables, the chairs, the children’s activity stations and everything else the child might touch is made safe and clean. They also wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, and practice social distancing.

This blog is originally published on Abrakadoodle Blogs.

For example, when you give a child a block of play dough and ask ‘what shall we do with it?’, you automatically set the stage for conservation to begin. As soon as a child’s hands touch the play dough, the creation part takes on a life of its own.

The versatility of art therapy is immense. For young children who are anxious and need fewer stimuli, it makes their world smaller and more focused, allowing them to be fully present to create or simply relax. For older children, art therapy when applied during the early childhood development phase can widen their world by providing them with a wonderful escape mechanism. 

Art is non-verbal & sensory-based

For children who may not be able to articulate thoughts, sensations, emotions or perceptions, art is the easiest way to convey what may be difficult to express with words. For those who have been exposed to traumatic experiences, art becomes a safe way to tell without talking. They will be able to speak and express their feelings without being afraid of any repercussions. 

Assessing a child’s growth & development

Art expressions, particularly painting and drawing, provide useful information to assess the level of development in children, especially the younger ones. For example, differences in artistic development can help you understand better a child’s emotional experiences, cognition and sensory integration. These episodes of artistic development in young children are helpful and add valuable information not always apparent through talk therapy alone.

Art helps in self-regulation

Specific art-based activities, within the context of art therapy, will be helpful to young children. In particular, certain sensory characteristics of art-making are found to be quite effective in improving mood, sensory integration, and calming the body and mind. As a matter of fact, art may well be the only medium available to children who may have been scarred by abuse occurring earlier on in their lives. 

Art helps in meaning-making

Like play therapy, art therapy provides an opportunity to encourage and enhance storytelling and narratives. Making up a story to tell about a drawing or painting, or collage, needn’t be taken literally. These narratives, however, serve as a way to slowly and safely release disturbing or terrorizing experiences.

Since time immemorial, art has been an effective means of communication. Just think of the original cave drawings found in France and elsewhere in the world. This goes to show that art and drawing have been standard practices used to tell a story as a means of self-expression and to promote social interaction.

The benefits of the practice of art for emotional and social well-being are many. Margaret Naumburg often referred to as the ‘Mother of Art’, believed that children should be allowed creative freedom and that allowing them to pursue subjects that interested them, as this will enable healthy, all-around development.

Art is beneficial for a child’s language development and communication skills. Children are visual thinkers, and creating art helps them process and express their thoughts more easily. When children talk about colours, shapes, and other elements in their artwork, they actively expand their vocabulary.

Discussing art, whether it’s their own or someone else’s work, helps in cognitive skills development. It teaches children how to describe what they see and put their thoughts into words. Speaking and listening skills are both critical skills. Therefore, hearing other children discuss art helps a child not only to learn how to listen but also articulate what she is thinking more effectively.

Art therapy activities are meditative, quiet, and relaxing for most children, and help calm their nervous system. It also creates opportunities to practice patience and improve their focus. By participating in art activities, children can soothe symptoms of stress, reduce anxiety, and work towards having a sense of control over volatile emotions and stabilise them.

The quiet and meditative-inducing qualities of art encourages a child to step out of a rut and reflect on what she is doing. When you hand over a blank sheet of paper and some crayons to your child, just watch her reflect and get down to scribbling away, totally engrossed and working through her emotions!

Children find art to be an enjoyable way to be together with family, or in an art class. Art classes for instance, provide a child with a heightened sense of belonging. It’s a great opportunity for your child to meet others, build connections, and make new friends.

For children who are shyer, a one-on-one conversation can be a daunting task. Art classes help such children to get out of their shells, as a piece of art gives them a chance to talk without the fear of being “shushed” midway through their sentences.

Art nurtures social skills in a more fun and relaxed environment. For instance, round-robin art is an activity where a child gets to work on a piece of art for a couple of minutes, and then passes it along to the child sitting next to her.

Since all of the children are working on the same piece of art, they learn how to work together, adapt to new ideas, and gain new perspectives. Discussing the artwork also teaches children empathy and understanding.

Joint activities such as these also teach children to share. Especially when you limit art supplies, children learn to be patient and realise that waiting for their turn is really not all that bad, and sharing is a good thing.

Creating art provides children with a sense of purpose. And the best thing about art is there is no right or wrong way. This is how art promotes self-expression which in turn boosts confidence.

Such social and emotional development practices are incredibly valuable to reassure children who may be struggling to cope. Always allow your child to decide what she wants to paint or draw and try not to give in to the urge to change her mind. This will improve your child’s confidence levels and raises self-esteem.

In social situations, it is advisable not to tell your child that she is wrong frequently, or get her to do art the way you want. This crushes confidence levels and lowers a child’s self-esteem. Always encourage and support your child who is interested in art, and let her talk about it by asking open-ended questions about what she is doing.

Remember, always make it a point to celebrate your child’s work by complimenting her art, providing thoughtful feedback, and praising her effort.

Art provides a safe and conducive space where your child can play freely and use art materials as she wishes. By being able to discover her own experiences and feelings, the child is led to a deeper understanding and transformation.

You will be pleasantly surprised and inspired by the levels of creativity and resourcefulness that will come into play.

Art therapy isn’t simply about making art. It also helps to regulate difficult emotions, broaden perspective and help you work toward equipping your child with the tools she needs to navigate life with increased confidence and resilience.

You can begin the process by providing your child with a broad range of sensory materials, such as playdough, paints, and pastels and involving your child in the making of collages using magazine clippings. You can also widen your child’s art materials, including sand play, creative writing, storytelling, puppetry, drama, music, dance and movement.

Whichever approach you take, art exercises will provide children with a safe form of emotional expression and communication that is unrestricted by language and communication difficulties.

Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers and young children to think different, be innovative, and explore new ways to learn about interesting things found in the real world. Art therapy also changes the way a child discovers and imagines. Igniting her mind to think, play and learn like never before.

If you like to enrol your child in our art classes or find out more about why art classes for childhood development is important, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make an appointment with the head of a centre near you.

You will get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art therapy in a way that adds value to your child’s life.

Please note: Abrakadoodle classrooms are thoroughly sanitized every day — the tables, the chairs, the children’s activity stations and everything else the child might touch is made safe and clean. They also wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, and practice social distancing.

This blog is originally published on Abrakadoodle Blogs.