Hey, If you are a parent to a young child or know someone who is, or you are someone who has a keen interest in changing social norms, you must be aware of the importance given to teaching art and craft to kids alongside traditional educational practices in recent times. The hype is real!
Around the globe, especially in developed countries, kids are introduced to arts and crafts in a big way right from playschool. Several expert studies have repeatedly indicated the importance of arts and crafts for young kids. Not only are art and craft-related activities heavily engaging for kids, but it is also a beautiful medium to channel their creativity and self-expression. Arts and crafts have also proven to foster enhanced brain function in kids and make them smarter, intellectually and emotionally.
Every art and craft exercise is shown to have positive effects on the overall development of children. Adding color to shapes and patterns, clay modeling, paper cutting, and folding exercises such as making greeting cards to origami, each activity has shown great potential with young kids from the ages of 3-8 years.
Let’s have a look at some of the many positive effects that craft and art can have on a child’s developing brain.
Better motor skills
Motor skills, very broadly speaking, refers to the connection between your mind and body. When children practice arts and crafts, it requires them to do activities that involve coordination between their eyes, hands, and brain. Whether it is holding a pencil and sketching art or holding a brush and coloring or it is sculpting clay, or cutting and folding paper, each of these activities is extremely helpful in developing their tender hand muscles and enhancing their motor skills.
Enhanced Cognitive functions and Spatial perception
Now it’s a known fact that visual art mediums can help children make connections across different topics while exploring different art activities. The artistic process dwells upon keen observation and attention to detail, and when children are put through this, they, in some way or the other, start observing and hence expressing and communicating better. This helps in laying a very strong foundation for an enhanced vocabulary and communication skills, something that we adults know to hold immense value.
Art also enhances spatial perception in children. It simply means that when creating art, children become more intuitive in terms of mental imaging and manipulating shapes and forms. This is something that can’t be taught. It can only be nurtured by involving kids in hands-on activity repeatedly over some time.
Better Stress Regulation
Creating is a calming process. When children make art, it helps them process stress better. Art equips them to disconnect from outside thought and stimuli, enhance focus and concentrate solely on the task. Art and craft are active learning mediums, and the amount of attention and focus they demand at times help children overcome upsetting and traumatic experiences, if any, in their environment.
Enhanced Muscle memory
Both art and craft and art ideas rely heavily on repetition. The repetition in these processes fosters improved muscle memory. What this means is that their brains are storing the activity information, and every time they engage in art, the muscle memory kicks in and makes the process almost automated. This gets better and better with more and more practice. This is a phenomenon that we often see with seasoned artists and performers who do complex tasks effortlessly.
Having better muscle memory is known to help children develop very many skills down the road that help and reward the children in years to come.