arts!
ALL ABOUT THE
“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on” – Albert Einstein
T
oday we are lucky to have countless activities, programs, exhibits and performances at which to expose children to the arts—and just as many places to enroll them to bring out their inner artist. Those first dance classes with toddlers in tutus, first trials with instruments (recorders anyone?), field trips to the museum, concerts in the park and so much more enrich us all.
ART
I think kids are born with a desire and curiosity to create things. Young children usually love to color, cut and paste things together to have something to give to their parents. My own children have never been huge fans of sitting down to color but prefer using yarn for all sorts of projects. My older kids recently taught my youngest how to finger knit, and my daughter is excellent at crocheting. Finding the right medium is certainly important. Another medium to consider is photography. Try giving your kids their own digital camera to see life from their perspective. One of my favorite pastimes as a middle schooler was to take turns bringing disposable cameras with my friends to recess and then plastering my room with the prints. Now I take photos for other families! Kids are destined to get messy. Whether youngsters like finger painting or spin art, allowing them the luxury of that mess is laudable, but sometimes a mama doesn’t have the bandwidth for the mess. Good news! There are many great mess-free ways to introduce and encourage artistic flourishes. The Crayola Color Wonder products amazingly won’t color on anything but their specific paper (great for traveling!), and letting kids “paint” the sidewalk or anything else with paintbrushes and water is another fun option. Art was introduced to me by my parents—simple arts and crafts as a kid, like making valentines with my dad for my mom, as well as watching my dad freehand draw and paint some Disney characters for my room when I was young. My mom also loved to repaint rooms in bold colors, and it was fun to see how much a simple coat of paint could change the mood of a whole room. I also remember her trying new art projects herself, like painting stained
22 september 2021 kcparent.com
glass, crafting swags in the ’90s and teaching her daycare kids cute preschool crafts. I also was given my dad’s drafting tools he used for work (before computers took over) and loved the fancy pencils and kneaded erasers with the fancy brush to wipe away eraser sheddings. From their example, I learned the importance of modeling what’s important to you and introducing your own hobbies and interests to your children. I loved getting to repaint and decorate my room occasionally, and I know my kids enjoy this now too. I had great art teachers throughout my school years, and after this past school year, it will be hard to forget how important and amazing teachers are. If your children show an interest in art, make sure to schedule some conference time with their art and music teachers, too. Maybe they have ideas to further art education after school hours. To give your kids some hands-on experience making art, be sure to visit the Hallmark Kaleidoscope Museum in Crown Center. For art closer to home, consider planning an art focused playdate. Themed playdates can be fun to put a new spin on getting together and can range from a music and play dough playdate for the little tykes to a paint-by-number playdate for the older kids while they listen to a podcast or audiobook together.
