If you know the importance of starting art and craft at an early age, you would have started from day one. Don’t worry, its never too late.
Creativity is a God-given gift—but it has to be polished and developed. Most psychologists accept that a toddler’s development is partly influenced by the abilities she is born with and partly by the way she is raised at home.
The way a toddler develops is a mixture of her innate abilities that were present at birth and her upbringing. It’s the delicate interaction between both of these influences that counts.
Don’t leave it all to chance in the hope that your toddler’s natural talents will shine through; and don’t have unrealistically high expectations of her, in the belief that she can achieve anything as long as she receives the right sort of stimulation.
Tailor your parental input to your child’s personality and aptitude. Parents who are well educated themselves usually place a high value on early stimulation and therefore provide a full program of activities for their toddler. As a result of this input, their child tends to develop at a faster rate. This means the child has more chances of developing creative and artistic skills at a faster pace.
If your toddler is old enough to hold a crayon or a marker, she is old enough for her official start in art.
Safety first:
You’ll have to make sure that all her art supplies are non-toxic—especially because she’s likely to put whatever she’s scribbling in her mouth.
Supervise:
To make sure that she doesn’t use your home as a canvas, watch her while she creates. Chunky crayons, markers and chalk will be easier for her tiny hands to grasp and maneuver than slim ones, and when it comes to crayons and chalk, they’ll be harder to break. Keep lots of newspaper for her to scribble on—so that your walls and floor are kept clean.
Don’t ever encourage your child to scribble on the walls, not ever for once. If you allow her to do once, she tends to do so, every time. It might become a hectic chore for you to stop her.
Progress:
12—15 months:
Initially your child’s scribbles will be just a study in pleasure rather than technique.
15—18 months:
Your child will work with more intent and purpose. She’ll have developed more precise, fine motor skills which become refined midway through the second year. You’ll see distinct blocks of color, stronger marks and more definite figures.
18—24 months:
Your child’s figures are more recognizable. To her every stroke represents something. The triangles are hills, the small squares are huts, the green lines are trees. To nurture the process and to reduce frustration, applaud her.
A child also learns by watching you. If you are rolling out chapattis, gives your child a little piece of dough so that she can roll out with her hand.
Here are 6 reasons you should encourage your kids to do arts and crafts at home.
- Motor Skills
While manipulating the art material using fingers, painting, sticking, and cutting, the kids, develop fine motor skills. The faster their fine more skills develop, the more independent kids become. Whether it’s tying shoelaces, eating by themselves, or fastening the buttons of their pants, kids can pick these skills faster with developed fine motor skills.
- Literacy
Arts and crafts are not just about creativity, but they also hone child’s communication skills, listening skills, comprehension, math skills, and vocabulary. When you indulge kids in a craft activity, there is a lot of back and forth communication happening, like ‘tell me about the craft you made, or ‘which is your favourite colour.’ This helps the kids to build their vocabulary and communication skills.
Your child focuses on the verbal instructions you give them to perform the craft and cuts out objects of different shapes, lengths, and sizes, which fine-tunes their listening and math skills. It won’t be wrong to say that creative activities help the kids develop literacy faster.
- Creativity
Creativity allows the child to celebrate their uniqueness and be expressive in this highly competitive fast-paced world. Creative kids can better express their feelings and are more willing to use their imagination. Creativity fosters mental growth by forcing kids to think, imagine, and experience a new world beyond the limits of this physical world.
- Self-Esteem
Art and craft activities not just bring a sense of pride and achievement in kids, but also teaches an important lesson with it, ‘it is okay to make mistakes.’ While making new creative things, kids build confidence and develop self-regulation skills. When their crafts go wrong, which often does, they learn how getting things wrong can make you create a whole new idea.
- Time to bond
Doing activities with your kids helps you spend quality time with them while building memories to cherish lifelong. It also keeps your child away from watching TV or getting hooked to the screen, which is an additional bonus.
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