The Budding Age
Children start to learn new things in their early childhood days. Their early experiences involve learning to speak, play, eat and do multiple other activities. Preschool kids at the age of 3 to 5 are considered explorers as they start to explore small things in life. Kids in the age range between 5 and 8 are very keen on inventing new things in their period, whereas children between 8 and 12 tend to create things in life and are regarded as creators. Overall, there is a constant tendency for children to create that should be nurtured.
What are Art and Craft?
Art and craft is an activity of creating new things using hands. It can also be seen as a hobby and very popular among kids as they think it is a fun way of spending time. Some activities in art and craft involve making miniature statues from clay, colouring with crayons, painting, making origami using paper, designing a handmade birthday card etc. All these activities are capable of enhancing the artistic potential of the kids.
Benefits of art and craft
As a result of providing necessary information and supplies to kids regarding art and craft, they can develop various physical, social, and cognitive qualities.
Physical Benefits:
- Kids are exposed to developing fine motor skills as they are taught activities that include moving fingers and hands.
- It helps strengthen the muscles due to simple activities like colouring with a paintbrush and drawing with pencils.
- Agility and dexterity are also being improved.
- Enhancement of speed can also be seen, as children tend to practice similar activities daily.
- It leads to a tremendous enhancement in hand-eye coordination due to the engagement of such activities.
Social Benefits:
- Kids involving in craftworks develop a good relationship with their peers.
- Due to socialising with other children, their interacting skills are also being tremendously improved.
- It can also pave the way for kids to interact more with their parents and relatives.
- They learn to appreciate and value art and culture.
- Kids learn to design and create models in an intelligent way.
- Practising art is an excellent technique to boost a child’s confidence to engage them in arts and craftworks.
- It also helps children positively express themselves.
Cognitive Benefits:
- Children get to improve their creativity as these activities sometimes incorporate natural thinking.
- It helps children develop the idea of aesthetics and encourages their imagination.
- It can act as a great source for improving memory and visual learning.
DIY Projects
Arts and crafts are more than creating colourful and artistic stuff. It is also about making something useful. This is the reason why DIYs are created. DIY (Do It Yourself) teaches children to turn waste material or other things into something helpful. DIY projects for kids are termed to be one of the best possible ways to engage a child while building creativity at the same time. The following are the five benefits of doing DIY projects:
- Develop social skills
- Improve fine motor skills
- Creativity and imagination
- Hand-eye coordination
- Visual and auditory processing
Conclusion
Arts and crafts play a major role in improving the creativity of kids due to their versatile nature. In addition, these craftsman skills are also considered intellectual and educational gifts for kids as they help children enhance knowledge from a very young age. Furthermore, the art and craft projects provide children with the free ground to explore their imagination and creativity without any restrictions. Most importantly, these projects can be created by children and their parents together, which can improve their overall interaction and relationship.
