This is How Important Art is for Your Kids

Perhaps the most crucial life hack any parent can learn is the art of healthy distraction for their little ones, and there is no better form of this than the art of creativity.

In this post, we're talking about art therapy for your kids. This is not only a means of entertainment for their curious little minds, but it's also a vital part of their development and one that shouldn't be overlooked.

What does art do for our kids?

Art allows our little ones to practice a wide range of useful skills not only for life but also for learning. We know all this from what various professionals and studies tell us, such as:

• Educators tell us that art embraces the use of fine motor skills, encourages neural development, and sparks problem-solving abilities. All of this can effectively prepare us to understand other important subjects - from reading to writing, math, science and everything in between.
• Therapists tell us that getting creative in this way allows children to better understand the world around them, especially when emotions and feelings can become hard to make sense of.
• Artists tell us that art is essential for its own sake—as a source of beauty and expression, and even for the process of learning how to create different techniques and abilities.
• Kids tell us that art is enjoyable and something they love to do. And that's always a win.
• Parents tell us that art can be great for engaging the entire family and keeping all members happy.

What skills does art do for our development?

Art promotes self-expression and creativity.

The ever-important ability to problem solve and think outside the box, coming to conclusions, second-guessing decisions, and evaluating results, stems from the ability to be creative.

Creativity is vital for our children's success and well-being, now more than ever in the face of incredible challenges that erupted out of 2020; such as racial discord, wars, global warming, a world-wide pandemic and mass extinctions.

Individuals, organisations, and governments seek innovative solutions every day, and we can help prepare our children for this.

Art encourages neural connections and builds fine motor skills.

Art is an activity which engages all senses – sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.

Children's brains work a little differently to adults. They fire away as they go about learning and experimenting throughout their day, whether that's creating by painting with their fingers, mixing colours or touching new textures. This is why using their imagination to develop something out of what's in front of them is so very important.

Over time, art can help kids to define their fine motor skills and improve the way they create through it. It also builds their confidence to do so.

Art helps kids gain a grasp of the world around them.

Children are exposed to huge amounts of new information every day. It can be hard to process everything they have seen and learned, and art allows for a safe channel to do this in reflective light.

Teachers can offer an environment where it is safe to experiment and create on canvases, where questions are encouraged, and children can access the material they need and enjoy. So art therapy is no about producing career artists, but rather the intention of raising kids who are confident and relaxed with their creativity.

Let's look at an activity

If letting your little one go 'cray-cray' on the crayons all over your house doesn't sound ideal, we have a fun little idea that's sure to pique their interest!

Try our Posca acrylic pen range and some white organic cotton T-Shirts and let them design the latest runway looks for the whole family! They are guaranteed to get their creativity buzzing without the paint mess all over the backyard.