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I am new here and haven't posted much, I hope it's okay I ask a question already! Are crafts important/beneficial for child development? We do play dough, paint, color, water paint, chalk outside, beads, and baking and there is access to glue, sequins, buttons, paper, etc. I tried Google but I didn't find anything that really answered my question. There is a lot on Pinterest for crafts but I'm just wondering, is it actually helping children to learn when you cut out shapes and tell them how to glue them? Maybe it's good to learn following directions and the kids I have are missing out.
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I don't do crafts. I do not think they are beneficial.
Children can learn how to follow directions other ways. -
I do them just not as often as I used to. Parents don't seem to appreciate them, they get left in cubbies for weeks. My kids would rather play or do other activities than crafts.Comment
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Personally I think there is a huge benefit! They can have self expression through using different mediums as they choose. They can explore textures and shapes of the art supplies. They can "tell a story" with their art.
They also tune their fine motor skills, learn to hold a pencil or crayons or markers, they also learn to grasp little buttons or googly eyes, peel stickers off the paper, thread beads onto pipe cleaners, etc.
For an end product craft they do learn to follow directions, like putting together a puzzle. They can learn each piece has a home. But I also let them have freedom to put the pieces where they choose too...who cares if the leg comes out of the ear if that's where they want it, etc.
They also gain pride in their work! My kids get so excited "I can't wait to show my Mommy! She will be so proud!" Even though to me it looks like a brown blob, to the child it's an elephant and they are proud!
Besides all that my kids LOVE art! It keeps them occupied for long periods and they are enjoying themselves
There a million benefits to art!Comment
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No, I don't think they are necessarily beneficial. I've never done crafts with kids of any kind until I once had a group of 5-year old girls that really wanted to create particular things, so we did a few crafts. I don't think it hurt them.
But, I DO think it's important to make sure that children can cut on a line and glue properly (not just put tons of glue all over) before they go to kindergarten.Comment
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I think it is beneficial - fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, and using different materials is always just fun. I am not a crafty person per se - I draw stick figures - but I do what I can.
Some of my dck's love crafts, others not so much.Comment
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I definitely think they have their place. Just like some people frown on kids using coloring books I think coloring books have their value too. I don't do crafts all the time, more around holidays or seasonal crafts. Maybe I'm different from moms these days(the ones who leave them in their cubbies) but when my kids ever brought something home from school with pride on their faces, I LOVED it!
Fine motor skills; you can include premath skills as you do them; following directions and developing their listening skills; learning to make decisions; learning to be proud of what they can accomplish on their own as well as learning that if something doesn't turn out the way they wanted or expected it's not the end of the world; social interaction; plus who knows how what you do today with them will affect their goals for years to come.
Using crafts and art opens up their creative side and helps their imagination soar. Using different tools, doing different things help keep a little ones' life interesting. We made cute little yogurt cup reindeer, the kids loved them and couldn't wait to place them out in their homes to help decorate for Christmas.
Not tons of creativity doing them but they contributed to decorating their house.
My .02.
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I completely agree with everything Craftymom said. Let me add some to what she said.
When we are born, we have an enormous amount of synapses in our brain that transfer information to each other. The more we do, learn, use our brain in every way possible, the more the synapses grow and remain strong. The synapses that are not being used get pruned kind of like picking off the dying leaf of a plant. The brain is really a 'use it or lose it' organ. So, by exposing children to as many different experiences as possible, you are actually helping their brain grow. You're helping their synapses reach out to each other and form strong bridges of memory, ability, etc. Now, since we start out having many more synapses then we really need, pruning is necessary. However, being creative is not a synapses that we want to be pruned.
Kids learn differently and express themselves differently. Some are technical, some comprehend math more, some are more verbal, some are able to learn about their world and express themselves better through arts and crafts. If the child is not exposed to doing arts and crafts, they won't be able to find out whether they like it or not. If they only try it a time or two, they haven't been exposed to the many different ways of creating arts and crafts. There's coloring on paper with crayons, markers, painting with brushes, and finger painting. You can do those things on different surfaces; cardboard boxes to make a castle, make a car, etc. There's clay they can make things and then actually keep their clay creation rather than having to destroy it. There's painting ceramics, drawing, and crafts ha! You can make just about anything you think of. There's building a bird house, building a model car, making paper crafts, making wood crafts, making paper bag puppets and sock puppets. There's so many different things kids can create with arts and crafts, that unless they are exposed to the many different types of arts and crafts, they will not know if they like arts and crafts or not.
Kids do open their creative mind by playing pretend with toys, but it uses a different part of their brain and makes them learn how to be more creative when they do arts and crafts. It truly does help their brain develop. Here'a a link that tells you some ways arts and crafts help children develop. http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/ea...?ArticleID=257
Yes, you can make an elephant out of blocks, but it's so different when you draw an elephant on paper. Also, you have to take the blocks apart and destroy you elephant when it's time to clean up. But arts and crafts, a child can keep forever to look back at and continue to be proud of what they created.
As far as keeping it forever, I know some parents don't acknowledge the child's work at all, but some parents might keep some of the child's arts and crafts to show them when they are older. My kids and I got a real kick out of the art work my mom kept from when I was a kid. I kept some of my kids' arts and crafts and showed them their work from when they were little and they loved to see what they had made.
You could make a scrapbook for the kids of their art work if you don't think the parents will keep the individual papers. I would let the kids take some of their art home on a typical daily basis, but maybe once a week or two, you could keep one of their creations and put it in a scrapbook for them. Then when the book is full, you can give it to the parents. They might be more likely to keep the scrapbook for years to come if they won't keep the individual papers.
So, yes, even though they can be creative through imaginary play, they also need to be creative through arts and crafts.Comment
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For little kids, I don't think crafts are about the end product. They are about being creative, coming up with an idea of a thing to make, cutting, gluing, nailing, screwing things together, which makes you use your brain in ways that you don't typically use it; thinking in ways you don't typically think, which grows your synapses (brain waves).
Many kids' craft end product look nothing like they were supposed to, but the experience that they had and the way they thought while making their very crooked one legged popsicle angel who's halo hangs to her side, that's what helps the child develop for the long run. The fact that the ending result is not at all what it should look like doesn't matter. The experience of making it is what matters. As the child has more and more experiences making crafts, their ending product will be more of what was expected. If the child realizes that they really enjoy creating in a certain way, they will continue to work on that skill, such as wood work, or paper crafting, and as they get older, might become a very skilled artist. But the process of creating it no matter what it really turns out to be or look like is what truly matters in helping the child learn and develop.Comment
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Once again, that sounds more like art to me. Maybe I have some weird understanding of what crafts are. Growing up when we did crafts, there was no creativity. Everyone glued everything in the same places, colored the pieces the same colors etc.
When I think of crafts, I think of the end products... Crafts for parents... You know, handprint snowmen, footprint raindeer.... It's about the end product with specific instructions, not about the process and the kids being creative.Comment
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depends on what kind and how you do them.
I am a firm believer that arts can say a 1000 words no matter how old you are.
I think it is an open door to communication, especially for those that can't yet speak with words.
Correct me if I am wrong, but art helps develop the right side of the brain and also helps build important skills that benefit a child's development.
crafts can teach patience, which is necessary to learn for those about to enter school. Open ended art helps fine motor skills and so on.
I am big on both of these, but most of mine are open ended and of the child's interest.Comment
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That's the traditional way of thinking of a craft, yes. But, when you let a child have the freedom to make their craft "theirs" it's still a craft, it just doesn't look like it's "supposed" to.
I believe that that's okay.
I like to make an example of the craft for display and let them decide if they want it to look like mine or if they want a "one legged Popsicle angel with her halo on the side."
even if it doesn't look "right" it's still giving them the benefits that "crafts" come with. It's only the adults that notice that it's "wrong." To them, it's perfect.Comment
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