We’ve all heard that when school budgets get cut, it’s often the arts that take the hit first. When compared to classes such as math or reading, it may appear on the outside that a class devoted to art and expression wouldn’t benefit the child as much as a more traditionally academic class. However, creating and learning about art can have a huge impact on your child, even from just a very young age. So if your child isn’t getting a good amount of art in their life at school, here are three reasons why you should start doing more art projects at home with your child.
To Improve Their Decision-Making Skills
While it’s obvious that art can help make someone think more creatively, not a lot of people know all the other developmental skills that art can improve upon. According to Grace Hwang Lynch, a contributor to PBS.org, artistic expression can be a huge help in improving decision-making skills in children. During the creation process of an art project, your child must make a lot of decision about how to work on their project. This can require them to try a technique that may or may not work. It can also require them to change their plans if something unexpected happens with their project. This skill, being able to confidently make decisions about the future outcome of their project, can help them be better at making larger choices about their life in the future.
To Boost Fine Motor Skills
In addition to creative thinking, the actual act of producing art can help a child hone their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. With various types of art, small tools are required. Shelley Frost, a contributor to LiveStrong.com, shares that by using a paintbrush, moulding clay, cutting with scissors, or drawing inside the lines, your child is learning how to increase the dexterity of their own hands and become more detail-oriented. These precise movements will help them as they mature and learn how to do more complicated movements and activities that adult life requires.
To Learn How To Take Constructive Feedback
It’s not hard to think of someone you know who isn’t good at taking constructive feedback without getting offended or defensive. Luckily, if your child experiments with art in a traditional learning setting, they’ll quickly become used to getting direction and feedback and then using that information to become better, not resentful. Valerie Strauss, a contributor to the Washington Post, writes that because feedback is naturally part of the process of creating art, children who are exposed to this type of communication learn not to take things personally and how to find value in things they enjoy even if others might not appreciate it.
If you’ve ever wondered about what art can really teach your child, use the information mentioned above to show you what life skills your child can learn by being exposed to more art in their life.