The benefits of art

Art and crafts are so important for supporting development in young children. It can stimulate so many senses including sight, sound, touch, and smell (and even taste in some cases). All this stimulation gets those all-important synapses firing away as they experiment with creating and mixing different colours and materials.

Fine Motor Skills

There are also a lot of fine motor benefits as they draw lines, cut and stick things, kneed and roll playdough. All things which are important for building hand strength and dexterity which are all important for pre-writing. Fine motor skills also allow children to develop independence in feeding themselves and getting themselves dressed.

Problem solving

Creating art teaches children critical thinking and problem solving. It requires children plan out what they are creating and to make choices about what to add, what to omit, what to combine, what techniques to use etc. It also helps with spatial awareness as they need to work out how to fit different elements together on to a piece of paper or canvas.

Language skills

Discussing their art gives children the opportunity to practice their language skills and learn new vocabulary as they describe what they have created. They will use words to describe shapes, colours, materials, tools, and positional language.

Creativity

Creativity is an obvious benefit from doing arts and crafts. This helps with being innovative, lateral thinking and thinking outside of the box when it comes to solving problems.