As a young parent, I’ve always believed in exposing my kids to various forms of learning and experiences. Art, music, sports, tumbling with nature, on top of, you know, the usual stuff like ABCs and 123s and 你好吗 ['How are you' in Chinese].
And I’ve always thought of art as a fun way to foster creativity. It’s a nice thing to do at home, and all you need are some brushes and paint, pieces of paper, some inspiration and voila, ART happens.
But I’ve never thought that you could actually learn so many things from the process of doing art itself. Nor that it could offer multifold benefits for children in their learning and development.
An accidental interview ‘happened’ as I was asking Jaelle Ang, Founder of Art Bug, some casual questions over email…here’s what she had to say about the benefits of starting young at art.
1. Hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills
Holding a narrow paint brush, cutting with scissors, tearing paper and sculpting clay are a few examples of art activities that use fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The more often they practice these skills, the more improved they become. And these skills actually form the foundation for kids to learn writing and other essential activities.
2. Creativity
Art education is a creative opportunity. It stimulates the child’s imagination, as well as their cognitive and problem-solving skills. These problem-solving skills enable them to think creatively in other situations.
3. Concentration
The enjoyable nature of art projects engages most students. Because they enjoy the artwork, they are better able to concentrate on the task, sticking with it from beginning to end. Finishing the project gives the kids a sense of accomplishment, which can be particularly empowering for kids who struggle in other areas of learning.
4. Self-expression
Most subjects in the formal educational system are based on facts, with correct and incorrect answers. Art education offers a more open approach and even celebrates the differences in finished products. Kids learn that there is more than one way to complete the art project, and appreciate multiple points of views.
5. Risk-taking + Self-esteem
The open-ended nature of art allows kids to take risks. Kids don’t feel as much pressure because they know that the finished product will be accepted even if it doesn’t look like all the rest. This can help to boost their confidence, which may then carry over into other areas.
6. Discovery
Children learn best through play and discovery and not always through ‘teaching’. If there is one valuable thing we can pass on to our children, it will be the love for learning and a lifetime of curiosity. This will be the driving force for further learning, self-improvement and accomplishment.
There! Now we all have more reasons to have fun with art with our kids…
Here are some sites that I go to when I need inspiration…
http://makingmum.blogspot.com/p/art-adventures.html
http://www.kaboose.com/
Where do you go to for inspiration?
If you have a favourite piece of artwork done by you/your child, and wouldn’t mind featuring them on mamawearpapashirt, do email me! Also, remember to include a short paragraph or two on what you like most about it!
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