The merits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring for kids are regularly argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they have on child development. However, it is difficult to argue with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to take part in arts and crafts.
Creativity – If you were to ask a cross section of individuals what is the first personality characteristic that arts and crafts will develop in a young child – most would answer ‘creativity’. And they are correct.Everyone has natural talents & skills and it is certainly possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a tiny amount of natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and profit from new ideas, options and alternatives in a future career. Kids learn to do things in new ways and literally profiting from thinking “out of the box”.
Perseverance - Perseverance is perhaps the single most important quality for any successful business person, sportsman, professional or individual. In fact, most well-known breakthroughs in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance.For instance, children learn to keep trying until they accomplish the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet.If something unexpected goes wrong… they are encouraged to persist by trying new ways and means and the pay-off is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.
Concentration – Similar to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual.Drawing, colouring, sculpting clay or aluminium foil, painting and even doodling will definitely teach your child to focus on one specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In a nutshell, their overall concentration will definitely improve.
Even when very young, children can draw and color – so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble to their hearts content whilst also improving their dexterity and fine motor skills.
For example at sites like Spiderman Coloring you’ll find free Spiderman coloring as well as coloring pages, funny pics and more.
Little girls on the other hand tend to prefer images of fairies and princesses – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies are also hits.
Give your child several opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials as well as resources and the occasional canvas so that they can be creative and feel pride in what they create.
