Home » When Creativity Knocks » Guest Post: Home is Where the Art Is

Guest Post: Home is Where the Art Is

Posted by DivineCaroline on November 19th, 2009 at 05:00pm

We recommend that as parents you make your home a creative, colorful environment where exploration and curiosity is embraced. This is when the “magic” of creativity really happens. You don’t have to consider yourself creative or artistic in order to do this for your child. It’s easy. So lose the electronics and engage in a delightful pastime sure to be perennially popular with the whole family. How often do you find that kind of universal palette pleaser?

Here are some proven ideas to inspire you:

Be an Example: Let your own creativity flourish (or bring it out of hiding). All of us have a child-like curiosity, enthusiasm, and “crazy” ideas. Share them with your children. Be open to new experiences, and share your ideas with your child. Share the excitement and take delight in what you can create together.

Access: Give your child lots of accessible art tools in your home. These need not be expensive or sophisticated. Just doodling and scribbling is critical to your child’s creative development. Scribbling is the oldest and most important communication tool known to mankind. Scribbling is the basis for all other learning to come. Even before a child can talk or walk, he/she can scribble. Set out the basic art supplies (listed below) and you’ll have a very happy and creative child.

A Mess and a Masterpiece: Give your child an area where it’s okay to get a little messy. Parents who fret over an art mess, can turn a child off to artistic endeavors. You cannot possibly be creative when you’re worried about getting crayon on the table.

Freedom: Allow your child the freedom to create his/her own art without giving him/her your expectations (or assistance). A child who creates freely learns to enjoy and benefit from art, and becomes more self-confident in his/her abilities to do all sorts of things (not just art). A brown blob might not be what you expected, but the child who created that blob is a proud and confident child indeed.

Independence: Help your children become confident and independent by encouraging them to create their own work. If they ask you to do it for them, tell them you want to see their creation. Never finish a child’s work or alter it with your own idea of how it should look.

Process: Forget about how the painting is supposed to look. Children are happiest “creating” when they don’t feel they need to meet your approval. Focus on the child and the process of what he/she is creating. The result should never be measured or judged against an adult’s expectations. Real creative learning takes place during the process of making art. You can help yourself focus on the process by asking your child questions about the process, never about the result (i.e., What are you drawing? What is this suppose to be?). To a child, it doesn’t matter. Just playing with the paint might be his/her only goal.

Read the entire 4-page article at DivineCaroline.com
Originally published on Let’s Gogh Art