This humble corner of the home is a treasure place to stimulate children's imagination and creativity!

When many parents mention art, the first thing they think is: I don't know how to draw. I can't teach my children. In fact, art is not the same as drawing, and children don't need to be taught, because they are born artists.

Take a simple example, almost every child will like to tinker with something, sometimes knead a few dough, insert a few branches, in their eyes, is a living character.

The fiddling that seems so boring to adults is how children express their imagination into the real world.

Therefore, whether crayons, mud or branches, as long as they can be expressed with tools and materials, they are all artistic creations. By protecting their children's creative interests and paying attention to creating an environment for expression, every parent can be their child's first art teacher.

01

No intervention, is the best enlightenment

So, how to protect children's creative interest?

For example, when your child has a lot to say, you repeatedly interrupt him: "How can you say that? That's not right. "Would he want to talk? Of course not.

But if you listen and respond positively, he'll be more willing to talk and express himself.

Similarly, in the process of children's creation, if the parents always give intervention, then the children will only fear, and even lose confidence in creation.

Non-intervention sounds simple, but it is exactly what many parents need to practice. To truly "not interfere," remember these three principles:

01

Provide materials, not ready-made ideas

Do more "open" art projects with your child, that is, only provide materials, but do not give the child very specific "follow suit".

Why do you say that? Because when it comes to art, children don't set limits on themselves. They create what they want to express.

In this process, many parents are always tempted to "teach", this should be posted here, that should be higher, this is better... Wait, these are all interfering with the child's creation.

02

Don't judge children's work by adult standards

Don't judge your child's work, such as "It doesn't look like it" or "how to get dirty". This is the worst possible comment.

Because this is the adult prejudice against art, we always assume that works of art should be beautiful, or at least "decent".

But the child's imagination, is originally unrestrained, flexible jump off ah. It's crooked and grotesque, just like you should be at your age.

Doing well is not the purpose of creation. It is the courage to express.

03

Allow children to "sabotage" and "fiddle"

The last one is one that many parents can't stand.

The child sat there studying with great interest for a long time, only to find that he had done nothing, but was mixing the spilled milk with some paint. Or half done with the hand, with the nib to poke holes in it, hole son to destroy.

Don't try to stop them, they're just testing some crazy idea in their head. It seems to be destroying, but it is actually trying all kinds of material possibilities.

Creativity is stimulated by breaking the rules like this. Don't be afraid to make a mess, just take the kids with you afterwards.

02

Give your child the freedom to create

With the creative interest, the next step is to provide a free creative environment for children, that is, to arrange a craft corner.

As I always say, there should be a reading corner in the house where books are so accessible that children will pick them up and read them. Craft corner, is to let the children anytime and anywhere can see, let the materials stimulate the children's creative inspiration.

Everyone DOES NOT FEEL TROUBLESOME, DECORATE HANDICRAFT CORNER ACTUALLY IS NOT LABORIOUS, IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM PUTS A SHELVING, SMALL CART, EVEN IF ONLY PLACE A CHILDREN'S TABLE IS OK.

Then, all kinds of handmade materials, including paints, tools, and all kinds of "junk" collected by the children, such as bottle caps, stones, etc., are neatly arranged here.

An art space is ready, and it's like a smorgasbord of creativity for kids anytime, anywhere, whenever they feel inspired.

Of course, the ability of different age stages is not the same, the material layout of the manual corner can also be flexible, and then I will talk about the specific age: how to guide, and what materials to prepare, to give you a reference.

0 and 1 year old

At this stage, children's hands have not been opened, fine movement is not enough to support their artistic creation, but it does not prevent them from feeling art ~

As we all know, 0-1 year old children understand the world with their senses. They are curious and eager to explore everything around them.

Therefore, the focus of art enlightenment is to let children listen, see and touch more, which can be simply understood as sensory games.

For example, a sense bag that doesn't get your hands dirty and sticks to a window or wall makes a great art corner. Children from time to time to touch, look, pat, feel the touch of different materials, to establish the cognition of color. Sensory development also promotes fine movement, making the hands more flexible.

👉 8 cognitive enlightenment games you can't buy, and you can get them in a ziploc bag

👉 No spending money on toys | 6 cool sensory games to play with your baby at home

Manual material reference

: Sensory bag, colorful pasta, shaving foam, etc.

1 to 2 years old

The child's fine motor skills are further developed and he or she is ready to try simple artistic creations for the first time.

Like marking a piece of paper with crayons; Use your hands to change the dough into different shapes; Using vegetable roots dipped in paint to create various patterns; Picked leaves, pressed on the plasticine, will leave a mark...

They begin to notice the effects of their actions, establishing an "I draw, I leave a mark" causal relationship in their brains. The process is very interesting to them.

The handmade materials at this stage are not complicated. Everyday finger paints, flowers and plants, even food, etc. Anything in life that they are interested in can become creative materials for children to play with.

👉 after 6 months to 3 years old | various expand silly putty, don't only pinching pinched

Note: PARENTS MUST KEEP an EYE ON CHILDREN WHO ARE still in the oral stage to prevent them from putting materials into their mouths.

Manual material reference

: Paper, crayons, watercolors, finger paints, dough, color mud, all kinds of materials in life.

2 to 3 years old

As the child gains more control over the hand and finger muscles, the small hands become more skilled. The sense of creation also began to sprout.

At this point, you'll notice that their doodles have taken on some shapes, they'll make imaginary objects out of toys and materials, and they'll get more done with scissors (kid-safe scissors) and glue sticks.

Adults use their imagination to give meaning to their creations, even if they are still "abstract" to their eyes.

At this stage, children can try a variety of tools, such as practice using scissors (pay attention to the choice of safe children's plastic scissors), of course, but also can not cut paper, but parents can provide some relatively easy to cut materials, such as dough dough, vegetable stems, convenient for children to cut, simple manual creation.

Manual material reference

: Introduce scissors, and other things that children are interested in, such as straws, hair roots, feathers, rope, etc., can be part of the art work.

3-4 years old

At this age, kids are starting to set goals for creativity. I think about what I want to do before I create it.

There is also a greater interest in hand tool materials, being able to combine different tools, for example, trying to mix paints to see what happens; Try cutting and pasting to create.

According to the children's interests, we can provide more rich handmade materials, such as sequins, glitter, life waste items and so on, materials can be unlimited.

4 to 5 years old

By the age of 4 to 5, children are beginning to be able to express what they perceive directly in their lives through their hands.

They will combine their existing knowledge and skills and use many auxiliary materials to process and decorate the works. In the process of creation, they will be more independent, as they grow up, they will have more things to express.

At home, there are some hand-made art materials and composite materials (such as buttons, hair roots, sticks, etc.) for children to take at will.

In addition to the above examples, children can use a lot of handmade materials, I have compiled a list of basic materials, hoping to bring you some ideas:

03

We agreed to follow the rules

There are parents who say, don't intervene, give freedom, don't give the child "ho ho", I don't care what?

I understand your concern, and here's one thing I think parents need to think about from the start.

This ART CORNER BELONGS TO THE CHILD, THEY ARE THE MASTER HERE, THE CHILD WANTS TO DRAW AT ANY TIME TO DRAW, WANT TO STOP TO STOP, GAVE THEM THE RIGHT TO USE INDEPENDENTLY, MUST HAVE THE PREPARATION THAT FACES ALL SORTS OF DIRTY MESS.

Similarly, since this corner belongs to the children, they should also assume the corresponding responsibility, after the use of the rules to tidy up, is to make clear to the children at the beginning.

This little craft corner not only opens up more possibilities for children, but also starts them learning to take responsibility for themselves.

Big J's talking

We went to the tree frog tribe in Wuyuan at the weekend, and we met several friends by chance. We met each other when we checked out of the hotel, and several of them participated in the same activity 😁

The tree frog is one of the places that little D talks about coming to every year, and it's no surprise that there are a lot of happy memories. There are too many photos. I guess I will share them with you in batches at the end of this article.

Last year, I went to Xinyu and lived in the Ladybug House. This time, I finally lived in their iconic triangle tree house.

Once inside, Little D had already claimed the bed in the attic!

The first day to play is the rainbow run and play water fight, adults and children are very hi, play crazy ~

Look at us. We're working really hard. Ha, ha, ha

Although the weather is extremely hot, but the fun, and the beautiful scenery, is still very healing.