Pre School Art and Crafts

  • By: The DIG for Kids
  • Time to read: 3 min.
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The pre school child learns and absorbs information at an astonishing pace. You can channel this activity by coming up with fun projects and craft ideas together. Initially, a parent’s role is purely supervisory but arts and crafts for the growing child allow them to learn and explore techniques and ideas more independently. Look at different craft ideas and test which ones seem to suit the pre school child’s developing personality.

The Growing Skill of Drawing

Drawing moves from simple scribbles and jumbles to more detailed art that can be used within many fun projects. Remember that young children still have a limited attention span. There is lots of preparation involved setting up any arts and crafts activity, so it’s sensible to work through two or three mini projects in any single session. This maintains and sparks their enthusiasm. If you are planning a drawing session, you could begin by drawing simple shapes and images and challenging your child to copy. This could progress to an effective introduction to colouring in.

Fill a sheet of blank paper with random squiggles and shapes, and then encourage the child to fill in the pattern with blocks of colour. This arts and crafts idea is an effective way to promote pen control and colour design. The session could end with a game using hands and feet as simple stencils. Once there is an outline on paper, promote the child’s creativity by using the shapes as a base to create animals or faces. Suddenly, toes and fingers become horns, manes or tentacles!

Painting Ideas

Another perfect arts and crafts activity for the younger child is painting. It is again advisable to have several activities planned. Simple techniques like blow painting are a great idea. All you require is thin paint and a straw. The child spreads the paint by blowing and experimenting with different effects. Once interest has waned you can resort to exploring other paint techniques using simple items like string or a cotton reel.

Another paint craft idea is the butterfly print. This never fails to delight the pre school child. Fold back half of a piece of paper, let the child paint the visible half with lots of appealing colours, then firmly close the paper in on itself using the central fold. Watch the smiles when your child opens up the paper card to find a glorious butterfly splashed across the page. If the paint has spread, your child can help you to recreate the butterfly shape using child-proof scissors.

Starting to Cut and Stick

It is important to introduce the child to a range of different arts and crafts. The easiest and most satisfying craft idea is cutting and sticking. At this age, just use old magazines, a sheet of paper and a non-toxic glue stick. Learning to control scissors, the pre school child loves to choose appealing and exciting pictures and photos to cut and stick into a personal collage.

Simple Building and Modelling

At this age kids can also explore simple arts and crafts by building and modelling. Again, keep it simple and use this craft idea to explore the possibilities offered by simple household items. Could a plastic milk carton become a car or plane by the simple addition of cardboard wings or wheels? What about the toilet roll that’s just itching to become a space rocket? Arts and crafts are the ideal way to teach your child to look at the world with fresh and imaginative eyes.

The world is an exciting place for the growing child which makes their attention very limited at best. Remember, line up several craft ideas for any arts and crafts sessions. Above all, continue to keep it simple, don’t bombard your child with lots of sophisticated craft ideas. Look at the basic skills and use them to generate ideas in your child’s mind. The idea at this stage is to confirm that the world is place full of exciting ideas and possibilities.

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