How art makes child smart & 5 ways to start it?

Reading Time: 9 minutes

Everyone loves art in some way or another. Some people love songs, some movies, some drawing, some photography, acting, video making, etc. Art allows us to experience the world in a joyful &wider way. This world would be a much better place if art were the centre point of it. Some of the best places in the world, Italy, France, Germany (mostly the European continent), are full of art & natural beauty. To make you better understand, let us put this in this way. You love money, but you hate being at the bank! Right? huh! Think why!!!????

A bank is a place filled with money, but you don’t like it because there is no art or creativity. Art is something that can’t be expressed; it can only be felt. This is how important it is.

So, how to introduce it to my child’s life? Before answering this question, we need to answer one question first. What is art?

What is art 

According to Wikipedia, “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”. 

Ok, forget it lets let’s explain in a more easy way. 

Art is a way of expressing humans’ thoughts in a way that is different from the conventional one. Art doesn’t have one universal definition. It varies person to person, artist to artist. To put it more simply, it is a creative way of expressing someone’s feelings.

There are hundreds of ways to express someone’s feelings. Some of the popular ways people express art are: animation, architecture, assemblage, calligraphy, ceramics, computer, Christian or religious, conceptual, artistic design, drawing, folk, graffiti, graphic, illuminated manuscript, illustration, mosaic, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, stained glass, tapestry, and videos.

So why is it relevant to children & why should you insist your child take an interest in art, even if they are not interested? 

First and foremost,

 A picture is worth a thousand words & our mind doesn’t think in words, it thinks in pictures. Let me show you how. Imagine an apple. What comes to your mind? Is it a word with letters or is it a picture of an apple? You have got it. It is an apple’s picture. 

Creating art expands a human’s ability to interact with the world around them and provides a new set of skills for self-expression and communication. Not only does art help to develop the right side of the brain, but it also cultivates important skills that benefit a human’s development. But art goes far beyond the tangible statistics measured by studies; it can become a pivotal mode of uninhibited self-expression and amazement for a child. Art matters the same way language matters, or the way breathing matters! It is a fundamental component of what makes us uniquely human.

Art has some other benefits, here are some of them..

1. Thinking skill & Imagination skill

If you wanna draw something? You need to create it twice. First in your head, then on paper. You need to think about it first in your mind, unless you wouldn’t be able to get an idea of how to put it into a picture or any kind of art form. Drawing, writing, sculpture any kind of creative work requires you to think in a different way, or in other words, “out of the box”. Consequently, this will force your child to think more and more rather than copy & paste like a machine.   

2. Observation skill

How many times did you think of making your favourite celebrity’s drawing, but don’t know how to do it ( Where is his/her nose, ear, eyes, you have no idea, but you have seen him/ her a million times)? Plenty right?  If something is not in a shape in your mind, you can’t make it. In order to create it, you have to observe it thoroughly.

Now at this time, we are surrounded by so many distractions that we are not paying attention to anything, not even the small things around us. 

“It’s like running with a cycle rather than stopping for a second, climb it & then riding it”. 

Only by observing things around us can we solve so many dilemmas. But only a few people understand this & those who have this are called a creative genius. Creativity is nothing but observing things & taking inspiration from that.

3. Problem-solving skill  

When children explore art ideas, they are testing possibilities and working through challenges, much like a scientist who experiments and finds solutions.

Should I use this colour or this colour to make it more attractive or beautiful?  Ok, I should use brown, but I don’t have it, so how to make brown colour? nooo!! This isn’t working here! What should I try instead? 

Art allows children to make their own assessments, while also teaching them that a problem may have more than one answer. Instead of following specific rules or directions, the child’s brain becomes engaged in the discovery of “how” and “why.” Even when experimenting or learning how to handle art materials effectively, children are solving challenges and coming up with new ways to handle unexpected outcomes. 

4. Self-expression skill 

Children, not only children also other artists express themselves through art on a fundamental level. Sometimes their artwork is the manifestation of that expression, but more often, the physical process of creating is the expression.

Picture the toddler who has a new baby sister, busily pummeling his fists into Play-Doh; a six-year-old joyfully painting flowers with huge arm movement, blending green and blue; a ten-year-old drawing a portrait of her grandfather who recently passed away. Creating art allows children to work through feelings and emotions, and referring to a finished piece of artwork helps a child talk about feelings in a new and meaningful way. It portrays what they are going through in their mind.

Art also develops a child’s creativity. Rather than being told what to do, answers and directions come from the child. Art is an experience that requires free-thinking, experimentation, and analysis — all part of creativity.

It is important, however, to separate the notion of “talent” from “creativity”. A child doesn’t have to create a masterpiece to have a meaningful artistic experience. Art is a process, not a product. It’s tempting to want our children’s art to turn out “cookie-cutter perfect” to prove that they are successful and on track.

It’s reassuring to know that we can relax! Where art is concerned, it is the process of creating, exploring, discovering, and experimenting that has the greatest value. Through self-expression and creativity, children’s skills will develop naturally, and their ability to create will soar.

5. Social & emotional skill 

Art is a way of connecting with others. Through art, from childhood, any child can develop how to connect with others, how to appreciate others’ work, and the importance of teamwork.& lots of other skills related to personal development that will, later on, serve them forever in real life.

6. Fine motor skills 

Fine motor skills refer to the coordination between small muscles, like those of the hands and fingers, with the eyes. Fine motor skills involve the small muscles of the body that enable such functions as writing, grasping small objects, and fastening clothing. Fine motor skills enable a child to do things like delicately turn the page of a book or fill in a sheet of paper with written words. Holding a paintbrush so that it will make the desired marks, snipping paper with scissors into definite shapes, drawing with a crayon, or squeezing glue from a bottle in a controlled manner all help develop a child’s fine motor skills and control of materials.

Now you have understood why art is so important to your child & why it has more value than other conventional studies. So what to do? What can I do to get my child into art? 

It’s very easy to get your child into art now in this internet era. Exposure of so many tutorials, pictures, and DIY videos, you can easily get it by a click of a button. However, in order to guide them properly in art, you need to follow some basic tips as a parent.   

1. Don’t give too many instructions or don’t push them to do it quickly

The sky is blue. You know it, but they don’t. Instead of telling them, Sky is blue let them know by themselves. This is where most parents make the mistake with children: they kill the curiosity of knowing something by themselves. Consequently, later on in life, they forget to think! Seriously, they overthink about unnecessary things, but they don’t think about what needs to be thought.

When your kids are drawing anything, don’t distract them. Let them do their work. You don’t want them to be perfect. You want them to make a drawing, even if they are making doodles, don’t stop them. Let imaginations & creativity flow on them & as far as time is concerned, art is not a waste of time, so no point in pushing them.  

2.  Be prepared for the mass & waste of things, without waste, they wouldn’t learn

How many pencils, erasers, and pens did you waste in your childhood? Probably thousands!? You don’t remember the number, right? The same goes with the child, always think of the money you are investing in your child’s drawing, the same as your child’s toys, which they will break after some time. By wasting materials & with trial & error eventually, they will learn.& If you have a child, you know it better than us. 

3. Tell them to enjoy the process.

Observe your child when they are making any drawing. How much are they enjoying the process? How much are they into the process of making it? It’s good to look at the end result, but the process is everything. If they are enjoying the drawing, then you have completed your task like a good parent. 

4. Don’t correct 

Perfection doesn’t exist. It is a state of mind. & As far as drawing & any kind of art is concerned, there is no hard and fast rule. There is no right & wrong. Art is a way of expressing feelings & feelings can be anything. Your goal is to make things. Finish what you have started.  

5. Try to build an interest in art. 

If they are interested in something matter how much you control them, they will do it. So all you need to do is amplify their interest. Buy them drawing books, take them to an art exhibition. Encourage them to draw in their spare time. Now so much exposure to the internet and information, you can easily get an art tutorial on YouTube or any other platform. So no more excuses, get them into art.

At last,

We want to share suggestions or more recommendations you wish.

Collect all of your child’s drawings & save them. what !? yes! You don’t know how important it is. Furthermore, it’s easy like never before; we have multiple ways of doing it through Instagram, FB(Meta), Google Drive & multiple online cloud services out there.

Why we are saying it is that after 10-20 years, when your child will be an adult, this will serve them as their priceless childhood memories. They will look back and remember those days, how he/she was & how he or she is now. 

Here are some FAQ.

Now we & our parents regret not saving our artwork & we don’t want you to make the same mistake.      

So now that we have completed this article, we are curious to know, is your child into drawing? If yes, what kind of art he/they make? Let us know in the comments, better still, share some pictures of their art on social media & tag us on there. We would love to see your child’s creativity. Until next time, bye & take care! Enjoy your parenting phase.