ACTIVITIES
ARTISTS OF THE FUTURE
Does your child spend hours drawing, colouring and painting or are you struggling to get them off that gadget to lift up a pencil? Once upon a time it would have been unusual for children not to enjoy scribbling, drawing and colouring in pictures, but demands on their time now are such that it might not be a first choice activity. Time to reinject some fun into this engaging and important brain training activity. Better yet, the only power source required is you!
Using pencils, pens, crayons, chalks and paint requires a high degree of dexterity and co-ordination which in turn stimulates a child’s brain. To be totally absorbed in a drawing means your child is using important parts of his/her brain and at the same time develops their fine motor skills and their creativity.
Never mind the science, creating drawings and paintings is fun and allows children to express themselves freely – something they are less able to do at school with the increasingly prescriptive school curriculum.
STAND UP FOR DRAWING! There are many ways to encourage children to draw. Obviously, the first step is to provide lots of materials. These can be bought cheaply in places like Poundland and Wilkos etc. Both have a wide range of pencils, crayons, paint and paper for the budding artist. Once you have your equipment the following steps will help you to give your children the encouragement to pick up a pencil and draw.
Stand up and draw Associating drawing with other less exciting activities such as ‘homework’ can make it seem more like a chore. Standing up frees the arms and allows children to see the whole piece of paper or canvas whilst they are drawing.
Scribble Yes, scribble! This helps to warm up the muscles of the hand and minimises the fear children have of making the first mark on a blank piece of paper.
The whole space Children will often draw a tiny figure in one corner (which is fine if that’s the picture they want to make) but, in the beginning, ask them to be brave and use the whole page with big bold marks.
Ban the rubber! Children can spend a long time drawing and rubbing out without actually progressing beyond two or three lines. Ask your child to use light marks and when one of the marks looks right use a dark line to embolden it. That way they are encouraged to work through their mistakes until they find the line that works.
For the reluctant drawer it can be useful to give your child some ideas for subject matter. Maybe read a favourite book and ask them to draw something they like from the story. Set up a simple still life, a piece of fruit, a favourite toy – preferably ask them to choose.
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