Art & Craft With Kids
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain one once we grow up” – Pablo Picasso.
It really feels great when I look at my daughter’s drawings these days. They are mostly mismatched pictures of what she actually wants to draw. But when she explains what she has drawn it seems so right and excellent.
Life is different and extremely beautiful from her eyes. There is no right or wrong for kids as they don’t have to follow rules like adults. It’s up to the parents to let them remain the same throughout their life or impose our own conditioning on them. I have seen a 3-year-old going for art & craft class. I don’t see any value in sending kids for art classes where they will be told to follow what the teacher is drawing or they will be told to duplicate the sample kept on display.
For kids to be really good at art, we parents should keep the following things in mind –
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Let them paint the sky green, mountain red and clouds multicolored. It’s really ok if they are not following the accepted rules.
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Don’t always expect the perfect outcome from kids. Just enjoy the process of doing something together.
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Do hang their creations in some really visible place in the house and feel pride in showing them off to guests. Kids will be proud to see their art and craft hanging on the wall and it will be a matter of discussion. This will motivate them to continue doing the same.
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Besides these, some difficult tasks at a young age like cutting paper etc, let them do most of the things themselves but be around to assist them.
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Every kid is unique and they can produce unique masterpieces. Let them at least give it a try.
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Choose art and craft related to the upcoming festivals or related to the book http://www.texasgoldengirl.com/nexium/ that the child is currently reading. The kid will be more interested in doing that craft. And this will serve the dual purpose of knowing more about the festival / book.
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Sometimes, we get a peek into a kid’s world by observing what he/she is drawing. What they can’t convey through words, they can express in a beautiful manner through drawings.
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The next Steve Jobs can only be born if we give our kids the freedom to imagine and bring their imagination to reality.
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Do it yourself – IF you need to decorate the walls, let them add their imagination to it; if you want to make a magazine holder, involve your kids in doing it.
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I have kept a white board in my daughter’s room so she doesn’t have to wait for a paper and pen to draw. Whenever she gets the idea of a new word starting from any alphabet that they are learning in class that week, she instantly outlines them on the white board and boasts about them to me in the evening. It’s pure joy to see her jump with excitement.
On an other note, I also hate colouring books. They just don’t give kids a chance to think. The whole effort is to draw inside the lines. I prefer she spend time in drawing her own things and put colors in it.
Rashmi Sehgal is the mother of two adorable kids, 4 and 1-year-old fondly known as Angel and Lil prince on her blog. She wears the dual hat of mother and IT Professional who juggles between work and kids trying to maintain balance between both worlds . She is a voracious reader , avid blogger , Shopaholic, love to experiment different way of learning and unlearning things with her daughter and take pleasure in reading books to her daughter. She writes at rashworld.wordpress.com
