How to Introduce Arts and Crafts to Kids – 7 tips that work!

Sharing is caring!

Kids are born curious and creative – two qualities that go wonderfully together! In such a scenario, it’s obvious that they’re naturally inclined towards arts and crafts, so half your work is done there!

line

“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso

line

However, a little nudge and support in the right direction can be of great help and encouragement to kids, which is why we’re talking about how to introduce kids to arts and crafts in a manner that’s appropriate for their age and ability.

drawing 428383 640

Introducing Crafts by Age

  • Start with very basic supplies, like crayons and colored paper for toddlers. Get them jumbo crayons that fit into their little hands and help them tear colored paper for some fine motor practice. Check out our favorite art & Craft supplies.
  • While we have almost 1000+ Art & craft tutorials for kids, we have tried to categorize them by age –
     Activities for toddlers on ArtsyCraftsyMom Activities for Preschoolers on ArtsyCraftsyMom Activities for your kindergartner on ArtsyCraftsyMomActivities for Primary Schooler on ArtsyCraftsyMom Activities for Preteens on ArtsyCraftsyMom Activities for Teens on ArtsyCraftsyMom

Here are some of our favorites

  • Handprint or Printmaking Artworks are great for toddlers and preschoolers, who can then progress onto using child-safe glue. Let them create rough paper collages, or you can experiment with different materials – cotton, fabric, stickers, sticks, and leaves.
  • School going kids can make crafts with more definition and may be interested in creating things that they can play with or give their friends, like bookmarks. At this age, they can use scissors and other tools. They’re also more in tune with changing seasons and popular holidays.
  • Tweens and older kids will be able to appreciate the finer nuances of art and famous artists. They can also use materials like porcelain clay to sculpt. Kids this age might prefer making things that can be used, like jewelry, earphone pouches etc – Our paper Quilling crafts are perfect. This is also a good stage to get them involved in crafts of other world cultures.

Whatever your child’s age, it’s never too late to introduce them to arts and crafts – we think even Mom and Dad can benefit a lot from it!

How to Introduce Arts and Crafts to Kids

Kids are born creative; encourage them with these tips on how to introduce kids to arts and crafts.

1. Start with a Favorite Story

Paper Plate Mr Fox roald dahl 6802 004

To begin with, a favorite story or book is a good idea for a starting point. There are many crafts based on popular children’s books like Horton Hears a Who, The Hungry Caterpillar, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Pete the Cat and more. If your child has a favorite character, like Mickey Mouse or Peppa Pig, go for crafts based on them. If you can’t find a craft based exactly on your child’s favorite book, improvise! Go for generic crafts based on the characters in the book, like a cat, bird or fish.

2. Look at your Child’s Interests

CVC Train1

Some kids, especially preschoolers, go through phases of intense obsession. It could be about trains, trucks or Dora – it’s usually something that your child breathes!

If this is the case in your home, you have the perfect setting to start doing crafts! Show your train crazy champ illustrations of vintage trains, usually found in older books.

A scrapbook is a great idea for all ages, where they can cut out pictures of trains from magazines or newspapers and stick them in. Make the most of this obsession to make simple train crafts, or even plan a DIY train themed party!

3. Use Experiences

Life on the Farm - Thematic Collage for kids 006

For a child, novelty is everywhere. They delight in a visit to a farm, the first time it rains, or tasting a new dish. Make use of this excitement and let it translate into arts and crafts!

If your child prefers just letting his thoughts flow, leave him alone with paper and art materials. If he’d like to ‘do’ something more with his hands, go crafty. Make a cute rainy day collage when the monsoon sets in, or an air show collage after witnessing a Republic Day show. Festivals like Diwali, Sankranti, Eid, Easter or Christmas are also excellent opportunities to get ideas to craft, and since they’re usually home for the holidays, there’s time to spare as well.

4. Talk about Art

Melted crayon Monogram Wall Art , crayon shaving, rainbow art,

Art isn’t just a huge painting at a museum; it’s all around us!

Draw your child’s attention to a decorative poster and talk about the colors. Encourage questions from your child and ask questions yourself – can you see these shapes? Why do you think she looks happy? Do you think the colors are happy colors or sad?

Let the younger kids try print making, while the older kids can use sponge pouncers or melt crayons for their own custom artwork!

For older kids, museums are a good bet but don’t force your child to go. By this age, you probably have an idea of what kind of exhibits she might like, so take her to a museum that caters to her interests – history, science, architecture or movies.

5. Introduce them to Artists

10 Leonardo Da Vinci Projects for kids - art appreciation for kids

If you’ve taken your child to an art gallery or museum, it’s quite likely that you’ve tossed around the names of a few artists. Here are afew tips Tips for visiting an art museum with kids

If your child seems to show a particular affinity for the style of work or colors of a particular artist, encourage this interest and help her learn more about them. Use books and crafts based on the works of famous artists to talk about their lives and the role their art played in history.

Many of these artists’ works have a lot of depth and hidden details, so let your child study them closely and try to imagine what the artist was trying to portray through his painting or how he may have been feeling at the time.These thoughts are likely to encourage them to experiment with the same style – the results are sure to be interesting!

6. Recycle and Reuse

Upcycled Tin Jewelery Box 3

We can’t think of a better way to encourage creativity than thinking of an innovative way to reuse something!

Hand your child an empty shoe box or Pringles can and ask him what he can make with it. Of course, the possibilities are endless and you might just be surprised at what your child comes up with!

Tin cans, Styrofoam, bubble wrap, CDs, bottle caps, magazines, drinking straws – there’s nothing that can’t be reused! Even things like sticks, seeds and leaves can be used.

You can also encourage your kids make use of regular household objects and toys like Hot Wheels  and Lego to create amazing setups for play!

7. Do art alongside your child.

Family participation will encourage him to continue. Kids feel they can’t do art if they can’t draw realistically. Drawing with them helps them see that it doesn’t have to be perfect and that one image can be seen in lots of different ways.  Encourage your kids to draw their own versions of objects they see around them or to use cut-up bits of paper to create their own mosaics. Better still, encourage your child to create a story by drawing, cutting, and gluing pictures and then have you guess what the story is.

 

How to introduce art and crafts to kids

Even if you’ve got all these tips on how to introduce your kids to arts and crafts, they work best when you get down and get involved too!

Once your kids have become experts of some kind, you can leave them alone, provided it’s safe. But when your kids are starting out in the world of arts and crafts, parental support is critical.

Use child safe materials and beware of choking hazards. Be prepared for lots of messes, and a project that might turn out completely different from what was initially planned!

But let your child free to create whatever she wants and just be there to support and encourage her. And who knows, this might just be what you need to rekindle your dormant creativity as well!

You may also like these posts on arts and crafts:

 

 

Related Articles

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Hey,

    I really like your writing style… and the topics you picked up to write on.. I have been reading your almost every article published here..
    I liked this content, how simply you explain the idea. This will really helpful for many parents and educate them how one can indulge their kids into art and craft as per their kid’s interest.

    Well written.

  2. While looking for an idea to make an interesting craft work around Onam for my 3.5 year old, I by chance bumped into this site.. I’m a full time employed transformation professional, with the luxury to be able to work from home and today was by chance a comparitively free day for me..

    Since the time I bumped into this site, I’m just glued & amazed with the creativity, Shruti, Fabida, You & your colleagues have…. I feel like trying each & every craft in you site, starting right now 🙂 Love everything!! You have a fan in me for you now!!!!