Wondering how to give your child a healthy outlet but at the same time help him learn?
Enrol him/her in childcare art programs!
Childcare art programs are for children between the age of 2-5 years. It improves their cognitive skills. The program entails children’s participation in music, art & craft, painting, dancing, clay-making and other extracurricular activities. Research suggests such activities have a positive impact on children.
But, how exactly do such childcare art programs impact our children?
That is precisely what we answer in the article today. Read on to learn how exactly a child’s creative and cognitive prowess and overall energy is helped when he gets art.
1. Creativity: We always ask our kids to be creative, but what does ‘being creative’ even mean? Creativity is to think outside the defined box. When you paint a scenery, you always colour the sky blue. When a kid colours the sky pink or green, that is creative thinking outside the box. Creativity allows our brain to find innovative solutions, construct ideas, and present original results.
2. Neural connections: Art involves using most of your senses- sight, smell, and touch. When you allow your kid’s senses to foster in all directions, he would grow and his brain evolves. It develops their motor skills. Interestingly, a research conducted by scientists in the US has proven that being able to draw geometrically is a sign of developmental genius in ages below 3.
3. Confidence: Enroling in such programs helps your child become confident. Participating in a group activity lets them step and work outside their comfort zone. They are challenged at every step and when your child rises above this challenge, it builds his confidence and personality.
4. Writing: Scribbling back and forth might be seen as futile, but it couldn’t be farther from futile. It helps them learn how to express. The more they scribble, the more they control their thoughts and hand coordination, eventually, contributing to better writing, thinking, and even reasoning prowess.
5. Exhibit emotions: Children are tender and tiny humans that do not understand complex emotions. Given their limited knowledge of words and grammar, expressing themselves in words that their caretakers get becomes more complicated. Art helps your children develop a medium to express emotions and their understanding of the world. It gives an insight into their innocent minds. Some choose music, others go with sports or drawing. It is crucial to allow your child to choose their own fresh mode of expression!
6. Builds connection: The same way you connect with a stranger over a cricket match, your children connect with the world outside through artistic mediums- dancing, singing, painting, etc.
7. Accountable: Working in groups builds a sense of accountability in them. They learn to understand that their contributions matter and to work diligently with others in childcare art programs.
8. Focus: Cellphones and mobiles have been detrimental to both, children and adults, especially when we talk about the wide gap in focus and concentration. However, artistic programs help kids enhance their skills to focus. Art works, no matter how easy to adults, usually end up consuming days of a child’s time. This will keep them occupied and teach them how to be disciplined, patient, and hawk-eyed.
9. Perseverance: It teaches the virtue of perseverance. Learning anything new can be challenging. It’s when people persevere that they begin to make progress. Kids are mentally strong or “stubborn” as their moms would put it. Haha! But, this is a great virtue to nurture if channelised appropriately. Art becomes that medium and makes resilient kids and adults.
10. Language Development: Children learn alphabets, numbers, and words and understand things through colours and shapes. Not only is this a fun way to teach them new stuff, it is literally building language skills in your kids.
Conclusion
Childcare art programs are important for our children. They help develop your child holistically, and they should not be treated as a mere privilege limited to the elites. Art is a creative block in a child’s progression. The more we invest in them to think realistically and uniquely instead of relying solely on bookish charms, the more we encourage our children to gift something new to our world. A world with all creative folks sure looks better!
