Kids love art and craft, but did you know that they also help their overall development? No matter your child’s age, art and craft brings plenty of valuable lessons to your child as well as physiological and intellectual benefits .
Firstly, let's note the difference between art and craft. Art is generally unstructured and open-ended. It is a work that expresses emotions such as painting and sculpting. On the other hand, craft is structured and usually leads to a tangible output such as pottery or a handmade decoration. Let your child explore both types of activities to gain an appreciation of creating art.
Benefits of Art and Craft
Patience and Discipline
Your child will also learn to be patient and exercise discipline when doing art and craft because projects may require long waiting time or multiple steps. Also, a planned project might not turn out the way she had hoped -- which leads to re-doing the craft and correcting the previous mistakes.
Boosts Self Esteem
Self esteem is another area in which your child can benefit from art and craft. Choose an activity for your child to do that is at your child’s developmental level. When he finishes a project by himself, he will be proud of his accomplishment. Don't forget to praise him for it!
High Order Thinking Skills
Your child will also develop higher order thinking skills and be able to think better across more than one type of intelligence [visual/spatial (using images to learn or understand), kinesthetic (ability to control objects skillfully and having good hand-eye coordination), interpersonal (sensitive and able to empathize with others, working well in groups), intrapersonal (being self-aware and doing things independently), etc.] when he does art and craft.
General Knowledge
Art is present in cultures around the world. So when your child is exposed to art from different cultures, she develops a multicultural understanding and appreciation that will benefit her throughout her life.
Creative Way to Support Academic Learning
Academic performance can also improve when art and craft is integrated into your child’s curriculum. For example, if your child creates a picture of a character from a book he has read, it helps his comprehension of the story. Likewise, beads and other art manipulative can be used to help your child grasp mathematical concepts. Art is also fun, so it makes learning more fun too!
A recent popular form of art - Colouring!
Promotes Bilateral Coordination
This simply refers to the ability to use both sides of the body at the same time in a coordinated manner. Many types of art and craft promote bilateral coordination, such as using scissors, playing with play doh, or crumpling paper/tissue. Your child will use both hands in these types of activities, and these skills are important to other areas, too, such as writing and tying shoelaces.
Develops Motor Coordination Skills
Your child will also develop fine motor coordination (picking up and holding things, placing blocks in the proper slots, etc) when she draws shapes, writes, or cuts patterns out of colourful papers. This skill is important in daily acts like eating and getting dressed.
So what are you waiting for! Get that art block and some colour pencils or crayons and let your child bring out their inner Picasso or Andy Warhol! This holidays.... let your child explore a new art class your child or do some crafts with your child at home.
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