Children from a young age, naturally communicate through art. You’ve seen them scribbling with crayons, markers, pens and whatever else they can get their hands on. Creating art isn’t just a fun, colorful pastime, it has a variety of unique, positive effects on preschoolers, young children and teens that other activities don’t provide. Our program incorporates activities in Art on a regular basis given the multitude of benefits. 

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Art Stimulates Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills

An art project begins with a creative spark and lets kids bring their imagination to life, but it also strengthens their logical thinking skills too! 

You’ve probably heard about the somewhat-debunked right brain, left brain theory. The idea was that creative people were “right-brained” because the right brain is more visual and artistic, while the left brain is verbal, analytical, and detail-oriented. 

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The truth is that both sides work together, and art is an excellent tool for helping kids take a creative concept from start to finish, work through artistic challenges and mistakes, and have fun while learning. 

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Art Promotes Self-Esteem and Self-Expression

Children thrive when they can practice decision-making and express themselves without worrying about a right or wrong answer. They can learn how to trust themselves and communicate their thoughts and feelings with art. 

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Unlike schoolwork, there’s no “good” or “bad,” to worry about — it’s all about their vision and goals. There may be a few rules like, "Paint only on the canvas,” but otherwise the final product is completely in their hands. The more they can freely practice self-expression, the more confident they’ll feel. It’s also a great language development opportunity because they can pick up new art terms along the way.  

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Art Contributes to Fine Motor Skill Development 

Educators report more and more children are entering schools with underdeveloped fine motor skills. Dexterity skills are typically taught at home at a very early age simply by exploring grip and pencil control. Creative activities are a fun and easy way to change things up and help with fine motor control. 

Take painting for example. Paintbrushes are held like pencils, but the strokes are less exact and the result is a lot more exciting than writing down vocabulary words!

 

Painting teaches hand-eye coordination as little artists attempt to copy the lines, shape, direction, and patterns of the instructor (or try out their own style). Painting to Gogh has plenty of painting tutorials and kits designed for kids you can try out. 

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Art Helps Develop Visual-Spatial Processing

Visual-spatial skills help kids understand where objects are in space. They’re the same skills that let them repeat dance moves they see online, hit a baseball, draw letters and shapes, or complete a maze. 

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Creating art is a great way to help children sharpen these skills. Has your child or student ever tried to draw their favorite person, place, or thing? Let’s say they want to draw a portrait of their dog. When they imagine their dog’s height, weight, shape, and color and try to recreate their furry friend on paper, they’re doing a ton of visual-spatial processing without even knowing it. 

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Art Builds Memory and Self-Control

Here’s another benefit of art for children: Having strong visual-spatial abilities also leads to better memory and self-control.

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When creating an art piece, children naturally work on self-discipline. They can't jump into any approach, color, or technique they feel like if they want a painting that looks like a pair of cute pink unicorns or a space explorer.

 

If they’re painting from memory, they’ll work on recalling images. And if they’re watching a video or in-person educator, they’ll practice remembering and following instructions.

Painting parties engage school-age artists and adults alike for family nights, birthday parties, play dates, and more, while building these critical-thinking skills.

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Art Provides Rest, Relaxation and Reward

Studies have shown that art making decreases stress levels and lowers anxiety, helping with a child’s overall mental health. Creativity — whether your little artist is doodling, sculpting with clay or making noodle art — also activates the reward centers in the brain.

 

For young people, this means that arts and crafts activities make them feel good and help them naturally relax. They walk away with a sense of accomplishment and the motivation to get creative again. Art is a great opportunity to improve children’s social skills in a positive setting, whether with friends, family or classmates. 

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Art Increases Academic Performance

Reducing stress, improving memory, increasing confidence — these are all ingredients for academic success. 

In fact, a study of over 10,000 third- through eighth-grade students found that enrolling students in art classes improved writing scores by 13% and lowered disciplinary issues by 3.6%. It also boosted college aspirations among elementary school students! 

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Art Connects Kids to People and the World

Art is a universal language and acts like a gateway to cultural awareness. Children and teens don’t need any special knowledge to enjoy visual arts from different cultures or time periods. 

When kids start making their own art, they naturally become curious and excited about other people’s art — especially if it’s a familiar style, medium, or subject.

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The creative process helps establish a lasting affinity for arts and culture in kids that’s vital to connecting to new people. The study we mentioned earlier even showed  that art programs made students more likely to be empathetic and open-minded.