Arts and Crafts
Every week, we set up our tent with the school divisions, Family Centre and Lethbridge Public Library, and hand out activity kits in the community based on a theme. This week, our theme was crafts, and children in the community were equipped with materials to create projects at home. Crafts will entertain children for hours, and there are thousands of easy craft ideas online. However, they’re more than a fun activity; crafts have a plethora of benefits for children.
Socio-emotional development: Children experience emotional satisfaction when creating crafts, since they have control over their materials and can make their own decisions throughout the process. These decisions will sometimes be their first opportunity to make independent choices in life. Arts and crafts also promote self-esteem by allowing children to express what they are thinking and feeling. Further, engaging in crafts with others helps children to learn social skills like taking turns, sharing, and bargaining.
Cognitive development: For young children, working on crafts allows them to explore their senses and also explore the materials they use, helping them to build knowledge of objects in the world. Arts and crafts also require children to make cognitive decisions and self-evaluate. They must decide what to portray in their art, which type of media to use, the speed at which they will complete their project, and then how they will evaluate the finished product.
Motor development: While creating art, young children practice using small and large muscle groups. Learning to cut with scissors, mold with playdough, or draw with crayons improves fine motor skills, while larger arm movements promote gross motor skills. Crafts also help children to develop hand-eye coordination. They learn to coordinate what they see with their fine and gross motor movements as they add to and modify their projects.
One of the activities in our Building Brains curriculum is called Shared Project. It’s versatile, fun, and brain-building. Try it out with your kids this week!
Reference: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=113