Art is important because it incorporates all the developmental areas in child development. Art assists with physical development and the enhancement of fine and gross motor skills.
For instance, when kids work with play dough, they fine-tune their muscle control in their fingers. All movements involved in art help develop hand and finger muscles that are needed to properly hold and use a pencil.
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Artistic activities also help children’s social and emotional development. Children learn about themselves and others through art activities. It helps them build self-esteem and is an opportunity for children to make a personal statement about their uniqueness through art.
It also enhances children’s cognitive development which can help kids with their early math skills. Children who have experienced a wide range of people and places will have an array of ideas to choose from when doing art.
It reflects what a child knows about the world and enables the child to choose how to translate those ideas and experiences.
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Finally, art is important because it allows children to be creative. Each piece of clay manipulated or each easel painting is individual and original to each child in your program.
Art should be an everyday activity. Even if you don’t have a lot of tools at your disposal, it’s really easy to set up a low-cost easel in your home.
For toddlers, you would want to include very basic items that focus on the sensory aspects of artistic subjects, such as finger paint, play dough and fat crayons.
