In the grand tapestry of your child's development, there's an often-overlooked tool that holds immense power—the world of art. As parents we prioritize the growth of our children into well rounded wholesome individuals. Practicing and exploring art is one of the best ways for the nxtgen to achieve that.
The Building Blocks of Child Development Through Art
Picture this: your child's tiny hands gripping a crayon, creating not just doodles but building the foundations of fine motor skills. Art is not just about paints and paper; it's a key to unlocking your child's potential. From honing decision-making skills to fostering critical thinking, let's explore how these artistic endeavors translate into life skills that go beyond the canvas.
Fine Motor Skills Enhancement
Holding paintbrushes, manipulating crayons, and engaging in other artistic activities promote the development of fine motor skills. These skills are crucial for tasks like writing, tying shoelaces, and buttoning shirts. Although most kids will be using similar muscles a developing motor skills while learning to write in school, art allow kids to do so much more. More importantly, as schools and society transition to technology, our kids experience a shorter window where they develop the motor skills that come from writing with a pencil or grabbing a marker.
Visual-Spatial Skills Development
Other art forms like sculpting, poetry, and drawing contribute to the development of visual-spatial skills. For example, when you look a cup, in a three dimensional plain, being able to translate that on to the paper is quite a feet. Or understanding how light and shadows affects how we see what we see. This is particularly crucial in today's digital age, where children interact with a variety of visual stimuli on screens but not as much in real life.
Language Development
Have you ever asked your child about what they are drawing? It seems as though they can never answer simply like, a giraffe. Instead, they tell us the whole story of the character in their drawing. The pink giraffe is pink because they love pink since they saw the most beautiful pink flower. The story that they develop along with their art allows each child to because as expressive as they want with two modalities, visual and speaking. The more they pracitce their art, and the more curious we are as parents about their creation, the more our children are able to develop their control of language.
Decision-Making and Critical Thinking
Every stroke of the brush, every line drawn with a marker, every shape pasted on a paper, is an act of decision making. The best part is that it is low stakes decisions happening constantly. As a parent, when we encourage the free exploration of their imagination, our kids begin to make decision constantly. What colors to use, where to use them, what their end goal is. Each decision is one that teaches them something. Either they learn that they liked what happened or they learned they need to try something new for the next one. Regardless, practicing art helps the nxtgen be a more decisive one.
Inventiveness and Creativity
The key to helping kids develop their creativity and inventiveness is to give them as much freedom for creation as possible. If a kid is give a stencil then they learn that they are supposed to color inside the lines eventually. While there are benefits to that with regards to enhancing motor skills and control of the medium, the best way to enhance their creativity is free reign. Providing our kids with a blank canvas to explore allows their full imagination to come out. Most people dont have canvases just laying around, but most people do have access to blank paper. Giving your kids the space to just go wild on the paper and cherishing them for the effort is the best way to foster their creativity. Creativity is one of the most important tools adults have to be able to get ahead in life, so why not help our kids develop this skill while they’re young?
Improved Academic Performance
Numerous studies indicate a positive correlation between regular participation in the arts and academic achievement. This could be attributed to the development of multiple parts of the brain. Coming at a problem from different angles is a great skill that can be learned through art. There are different tricks and techniques used in art that allow kids to develop the skills of thinking differently. More importantly, art will also foster a space for concentration. There are many high energy kids in my family who when given art supplies and paper, will be able to harness their energy for hours into their work. The focus and self discipline required to finish any art piece is a lot. The same could be said for the amount of focus it takes to excel in academics. So lets help our kids learn to focus while doing something creative and fun.
Stress Reduction and Mental Health
Art-making has been shown to decrease stress levels and lower anxiety in children. The creative process, whether it involves drawing, painting, or sculpting, activates the brain's reward centers, promoting a sense of accomplishment and relaxation. Although this blog is meant to talk about art’s importance for kids, this benefit applies through all stages of life. The simple act of creating helps all of us reduce the stress in our lives. It doesn’t even need to be drawing, but any creative process that you enjoy, like cooking, music or acting have shown tremendous benefits for increasing our mental health.
Conclusion
As we conclude our exploration into the profound impact of art on your child's development, take a minute to envision a masterpiece unfolding before you. The masterpiece is your child 10 or 20 years down the line, all grown up; but more importantly well rounded, happy, and creative. This great work that you helped nurture will have benefitted in every stage of their lives because of the tools you’ve given them. Amongst those tools, we hope art will be one of them. At nxtgenart, we prioritize the holistic growth of all kids. We hope for the nxtgen to grow up to be well rounded humans by promoting and incentivizing youth to pursue art in part or in whole throughout their entire lives. We aim to achieve this goal by licensing art produced by kids, creating a fashion line from it, and paying the kids for their art. We hope this inspires you as a parent to let the colors of art continue to paint their world—a world where every stroke signifies not just creativity but a promise of resilience, empathy, and a connection to the vast canvas of life.
Photo by Stephen Andrews on Unsplash
