Benefits of Art and Craft Workshops in

Child Development
Spend quality time together
Art and craft workshops are a great way to spend quality time with
family as children tend to express and share their ideas with them
freely, actively seeking their help. As the frequency of these
interactions multiplies, it strengthens the bond between children and
their parents and caregivers. As a bonus, parents also end up creating
a repository of art and craft that helps bring back fond memories of
their children growing up.

In life ‘knowing how’ is just as important as ‘knowing why’. Art and

craft introduce children to a range of intellectual and practical skills.
Helping young become lifelong learners by exposing them to frequent
opportunities to think out of the box and develop confidence in other
subjects and pick up life skills.
The benefits of art and craft in early childhood play a crucial role as
these benefits will be at the centre of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEAM). They also provide an
introduction to potentially lucrative careers in the visual arts, digital
and design and new media industries, sectors that contribute
significantly to the economy and reputation of a country on the
competitive international world-class platform.
Boost cognitive skills
Benefits of arts and crafts include helping improve cognitive
development in children by sparking their creativity and imagination.
By providing your child with different materials to work with, you will
be giving her an opportunity to let her imagination run wild and to
start building those all-important creative thinking skills for later use in
life.

Studies confirm that a child who is exposed to the arts acquires a

special ability to think creatively, be original, discover, innovate, and
create intellectual property — key attributes for individual success and
social prosperity in the twenty-first century. “Art is not just art, it is
communication, inspiration, point of view, and a bridge that links us all
up.” – Chung Kei Ting in Hong Kong [Source]
Improve self-expression & self-esteem

Most people think of art as something children do just for fun.

However, art plays a very important role in a child’s emotional
development. Through art, children learn how to express their
emotions, cope with stress, and interact with other people in a
healthy manner.

Arts and crafts workshops help children find new ways to express
themselves in new ways and build on their self-esteem and self-
worth. Art is an extremely valuable activity for children of all ages as it
helps develop a core sense of self-esteem — vital for every child.
Spark creativity & imagination

Creativity and imagination are two skills that arts and crafts
workshops help manifest in children. By giving them the opportunity
to be creative and use their imaginations, arts and crafts can help
foster a love of creativity that will last a lifetime, as well as help them
generate new ideas and find new solutions in all aspects of life.
 Teach problem-solving skills

Arts and crafts workshops help children learn how to come up with
solutions, as the projects they work on lead them to think outside the
box and come up with new ways of completing a task. Children learn
how to brainstorm, consider all possible solutions, and create an
action plan. These skills teach children how to problem solve
effectively, an important skill for success in both life and at work.
Help practise mindfulness
Art and craft workshops help children practise mindfulness, as they show
how a child can bring her attention to the present moment. Practising
mindfulness helps children become more aware of their thoughts, feelings,
and body sensations. It also helps them learn how to control their
reactions to stress and emotions.

This is also why art and craft is important in early years: When children
learn to focus their attention on the present moment, they become less
impulsive and more aware of their own feelings, be able to lower stress
and minimise anxiety levels.
Teaching a child to be mindful by showing her deep breathing techniques
helps them relax and focus. Deep breathing resets the nervous system.
Mindful awareness of breathing helps to support your child’s mental
health and minimises negative self-talk.
Encourage teamwork & socialisation

Art and craft workshops encourage interactions, teamwork and

socialisation in children as this requires children to work together and
find common ground to complete a task. This helps children learn how
to cooperate and get along with others, as well as make new friends.

Teamwork and socialisation skills are vital as they help children form
lasting relationships and allow them to be successful in both their
personal and professional life.
 Learn flexibility

Flexibility, is among the first important life skills children pick up from art
and craft workshops. This is because children begin to see the need to
come up with new solutions when things don’t go as planned.

This will help them in other areas of their lives as unexpected situations
will no longer throw them off balance. Instead, they will learn to pick
themselves up, adapt quickly to changing situations, and develop the
ability to expect the unexpected.
 Fun Art & Craft activities for children

As a child’s brain is constantly learning and growing, it is important to provide

your child with a wide range of art and craft supplies that can stimulate her
interest and keep her engaged. The more diverse the range of art materials
you source, the easier it will become to create more opportunities to learn
and grow.

Arts and craft workshops are helpful in fostering the development of specific
motor, cognitive, linguistic, and pre-academic skills. They also allow for
interpersonal exchanges that are vital for brain development, lifelong
learning, and social-emotional competence. Art and craft activities for children
allow them to be creative, think outside the box, and solve problems.
 Fun Art & Craft activities for children

Creating a ‘worry’ doll:

A ‘worry’ doll is a small toy you can help your child create so that she
can then pass all her worries to the doll. Psychologically, a doll becomes
a useful device to help children become more aware and mindful of
their emotions, feelings and worries.

These dolls are easy to make, all you need is toothpicks or pipe
cleaners, spools of knitting wool and colourful twine to make tiny
‘worry’ dolls. Involve your child by talking about worry dolls and how
they might be useful to her.
 Fun Art & Craft activities for children
Help your child gather all of the materials you need to make the ‘worry’ doll.
Once she has collected everything she needs, show her how to make one. Let
your child decide how many ‘worry’ dolls she wants to make.

While she is engaged in making the first one, give your child the background
as to why she is making one for herself. Explain to your child that everyone
has worries and it will be OK to tell you about them, or in your absence, share
them with her ‘worry’ doll.

Show her how she can do this effectively. Ask your child to focus on her
breathing and spend a few minutes talking to the doll about her worries.
Transferring them to her doll and asking her to take care of them. She can
then put away her dolls until she needs them doll again.
Fun Art & Craft activities for children

Painting & Drawing:

Painting, doodling and drawing are activities that provide a wealth of
development benefits for children. They make children creative, help
them explore their imagination, and improve their dexterity and
coordination, all at the same time.

Plus, it is not expensive. All that you would need is a piece of paper
and some crayons or paint. Another big benefit art and craft activities
bring to young children are helping them focus on fine motor skills as
they begin experimenting with a variety of fabrics, materials, colours
and things of different shapes and sizes.
 Fun Art & Craft activities for children

As children learn to handle a pair of scissors safely, cut and paste, hold
crayons or anything else, they are actually strengthening their muscles and
improving dexterity and learning to coordinate their eyes and hands. It is a
fun, absorbing, colourful, and liberating experience. Little wonder then, why
children enjoy art and craft workshops so much.
Fun Art & Craft activities for children

Using nature to nurture:

It is important for children to initiate and develop activities for
themselves. They must have opportunities to revisit and practise their
physical skills in ways meaningful to them to build confidence and
independence. For instance, it is very important for children to learn
about nature.

For instance, creating a nature collage consisting of leaves, flowers, and

twigs and use naturally occurring material that they take a fancy to.
Hand painting rocks and tiles, using wooden sticks to build houses,
cutting leaves dipping them in paint and using it to print patterns on a
cloth or paper among many others…
 Fun Art & Craft activities for children

The best learning is when a child is relaxed, absorbed in her

surroundings collecting things she would need to make a nature
collage. Having so much fun while playing, she doesn’t even realise
that she’s picking up new skills. That’s the real magic of the art and
craft workshops.
 Fun Art & Craft activities for children
Children love making masks of their favourite animals and superheroes. My child’s
favourite animal is the tiger and it was time to create a mask for her to wear to a
birthday party.

First, we got hold of a large piece of cardboard and as my child was too young to
work with a pair of scissors, I helped her cut the board into the shape of a tiger’s
face and ears. Made sure this would cover her face snugly and used an elastic band
to hold it in place.

Then we began to colour the board with bright yellow as a background first. Drew
four long outlines of stripes on either sides of the tiger’s nose in pencil and asked
my child to fill in the outline with black. Finally, we used white paint to complete
the jaws and mouth. The birthday facemask would be ready for the party once the
paint dried.
 Fun Art & Craft activities for children

Discovering the magic of colours:

When your child begins to experiment with colours, she in effect is practising
science thinking skills such as cause and effect, learning to predict what can
happen, and comparing the results.

Introduce blue, red, and yellow as the “primary colours.” To teach colour matching,
help your child combine paints in different colours (mixing red and blue to make
purple paint). While taking her through the steps of mixing colours, you will be
introducing new words and contexts, enhancing your child’s communication and
linguistic skills.
Conclusion

Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers and young children

to think different, be innovative, and devise ways to learn about
interesting things found in the real world. Changing the way a child
discovers and imagines. Igniting her mind to think, play and learn like
never before.

If you like to enrol your child in drawing classes for kids or participate
in cognitive learning activities, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still,
make an appointment with the head of a centre near you.

Get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art in
a way that adds value to your child’s life.
 Our Branches:

Abrakadoodle Jurong
Abrakadoodle Marine Parade Abrakadoodle River Valley
50 Jurong Gateway Road,
80 Marine Parade Road, 1 Kim Seng Promenade #03-104
JEM #03-19, Singapore 608549,
Whatsapp: 6262 4215 #15-03 Parkway Parade, Singapore 449269, Great World City, Singapore 237994
Phone: (+65) 6440 9916 Phone: (+65) 6235 3631 Whatsapp:
8668 6457

Abrakadoodle Punggol Abrakadoodle Tampines Abrakadoodle Orchard

681 Punggol Drive, Oasis Terrace, #03-
300 Tampines Avenue 5, NTUC Income, 163 Tanglin Rd, Tanglin Mall #03-
02/03/04 Singapore 820681 #05-05, Singapore 529653 120, Singapore 247933
Whatsapp: 8239 5207 Phone: (+65) 6789 7061 Phone/WhatsApp: 6235 9568
Thank You