You may be wondering why your kids aren’t more interested in art. While not every little child is predisposed to be a ‘Picasso’ and a creative soul, there are some things that you can do to help your kids get into coloring, painting and drawing.
Instead of concentrating on technique, composition or other such serious topics, make sure that your children are first and foremost having fun with what they’re doing. This is especially important when kids are just beginning to learn to color and draw. They are much more interested in their movies and television programs than they are in learning art, so use that to your advantage and find interesting themes on television.
So for instance, what kind of cartoons or programs do your children regularly watch and how can you incorporate those characters, environments, colors and ideas into a fun art activity? Remember that for whatever theme you choose- the art ‘lesson’ should be easy to complete so that your child’s self-confidence in his or her abilities grows.
Building confidence is pivotal because it will help carry your little ones past the initial learning curve required when learning the fine motor skills that coloring in and painting require. In the beginning the aim shouldn’t be to produce proficient little artists, but rather to build enough confidence in your child that they are interested in having an art ‘lesson’ again.
If you don’t ‘grab’ them interest them when they are just starting out, your children risk developing the ‘I can’t draw,’ and the ‘I can’t paint/color’ syndrome and then you have surely ‘lost’ them – well, at least in the short term. Therefore, think about which television, movie or cartoon characters your child enjoys and search for a few online art resources that would grab their attention. For instance, at sites like Disney Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Minnie Mouse coloring and many other printables such as paper crafts, free printable party invitations and activity sheets that would appeal to both boys and girls. Coloring in an existing drawing isn’t as daunting to a young child as a blank sheet of white paper is. Younger children may really be lost for ideas on what to draw when faced with a blank sheet of paper.
True, coloring sheets may not encourage creativity & immagination as much as say, a blank canvas does – but they do provide a great springboard for younger children to practice their fine motor skills and an opportunity to slowly build up the confidence in their dexterity and artistic abilities to progress onto the big wide world of art!