How To Encourage Artistic Talents In Children

One of the first ways preschoolers learn to express their creativity is by drawing and painting. It helps them in their emotional, cognitive and social development. It is also a way for them to communicate. Believe it or not, it is possible to encourage your child’s artistic talents as early as preschool age.

Spontaneously drawing, drawing and painting in preschool gives children the chance to express ideas about what surrounds them and about other people. We should therefore encourage them to develop this talent.

Let’s look at some tips on how to encourage your child’s artistic talents in preschool.

How to encourage your child to be creative

If you want them to do it, do it yourself

Remember that parents are children’s first role models and their best example to follow. So if we want our children to develop their artistic talents, start drawing, for example, we as parents must be the first to pick up our own pen (or brush).

It is important to communicate with your children so that they understand what you are doing when they see you doing it. Very soon they will try to imitate and follow you.

It’s important to never say that your, or anyone else’s, drawings are not very good. Focus on the positive in what you create and in what your children draw.

If children see that we are confident in what we do, they also feel that they dare to try. It’s not about being an ‘artist’, it’s just about arousing the children’s interest and encouraging them to express themselves through art.

Ways to encourage your child’s artistic talents

Once you have made it a routine to paint, color and draw, you can start encouraging your children to try new creative activities or further explore what they are already doing.

Do not limit them to just painting with watercolors and tempera, felt-tip pens or crayons. Other materials such as oil crayons, crayons or even finger paint can be good.

Give your children the opportunity to choose for themselves and make their own discoveries. Giving them space to freely create what they want is the perfect way to encourage your child’s artistic talents.

Talk to your child

A safe way to encourage children to draw is to show interest in what they are drawing. It is not enough to just say things like “how nice”, but try to talk about all the details of their drawings or paintings, talk about the colors and suggest other things they can draw.

Children may not always want to sit still and draw on a piece of paper, so try to sometimes suggest new ideas for them to do. The best thing you can do is find out what they are interested in and what they like. Ask and listen. Communication is important.

Think about their age

It is important that we as parents know to what extent each child can draw and paint depending on their age. There are clearly distinct phases in children’s artistic development:

• First, when they are very young, they mostly draw lines.
• Then, a little at a time, they develop and start drawing and painting more realistic things.
• Around the age of three, they begin to be able to bring lines together.
• Between the ages of three and four, they try to create realistic images. It is a natural developmental process and it is important for parents to be aware of this.

Have patience

If the children are small, their attention will be very limited. So be patient with them and do not pressure them to paint or draw. It is preferable to give them a blank piece of paper and let them do what they want than to buy a coloring book for them with finished divr.

If they do not feel like drawing, it does not matter. You can leave it for another day when they feel like it. The desire to paint or draw must come from the child himself.

Finally, remember that artistic talent does not mean perfection or doing it the right way. The important thing is that they like it, that they have fun and that it develops their creativity.