Keeping Kids Connected to the Arts When You’re Stuck at Home
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Picasso
Connecting families to online art resources is more imperative than ever before. Art can be fun and therapeutic. It’s a way to get lost in your imagination and escape reality. There are many benefits to creating and viewing art both emotionally and cognitively. Here are five benefits to keeping kids connected to the arts even when you’re stuck at home.
Benefits of Arts for Kids
- Develop fine motor skills. Stringing thread through small holes in beads can also help to develop your child’s ability to hold a pencil or tie their shoe.
- Sensory development in young children is critical. Sometimes just being around art is enough to help stimulate creativity. Art encourages neural connections by employing all five senses-sight, sound, touch, smell, and hearing. Yes, music is art too!
- Boost self-esteem by creating a masterpiece of their own.
- Art can be a safe outlet for emotional expression.
- It helps them to develop problem-solving capabilities. Open-ended art is an endless opportunity for making choices. Something as simple as deciding if a tree trunk is brown, grey, or purple is a decision that a young artist gets to make.
These are all great reasons why communities fight so hard to keep artistic classes available in public schools. Art is a broad term used to encompass painting, sculpting, music, poetry, and crafting. Art is the lifeboat for many. We have compiled a list of online art resources to stay connected to the arts while school is not in session. You might be surprised at what counts as art!
Online Art Resources
The Magic House (St. Louis Children’s Museum)
The Magic House is hosting a virtual “Magic at Home” series designed to keep your kids creating from home.
Make
Make is a joyful facebook page where artists and artisans offer free workshops to anyone.
Pappyland
Pappyland is a mix of funny cartoons and part art lessons. Pappy the jolly old man goes on adventures while incorporating easy drawing lessons. Pappyland is approved for kids youtube with the extra parental controls.
Puppetry
Puppetry.com is offering free puppet shows and workshops, temporarily. Check out their Facebook page to see when they will go live and enjoy. Puppetry is art too.
Hoffman Academy
Hoffmanacademy.com is a great way to learn the piano while practicing social distancing. They offer free lessons and paid accounts.
Drawing Lessons
Drawing with Mo Willems on YouTube
Each day at Noon (Central), join Kennedy Center Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems for #LunchDoodles.
Cassie Stephenz
Cassie Stephenz Instagram account is such fun. She’s creative and full of ideas to keep you busy for days if not weeks.
Ballet Nova Center for Dance
Dance like no one is watching. No, really you can finally dance like no one is watching because the entire country is locked down. BalletNova in Virginia is offering free live dance lessons on Facebook. Take advantage of this opportunity and shake it like a Polaroid picture.
For free spirits who do not want to sit for a lesson, you can set them free with a rock. Yes, rock painting is a real thing. Have fun transforming ordinary rocks into splendid painted pieces of art. Set them along a walking trail or your sidewalk to be found and enjoyed by another. See how many rocks you can find on your next walk. If you’d like, put a message on your rock to be part of #TheKindnessRocksProject.
Share These Resources!
We hope that you check out as many of these online art resources as possible. We will also be sharing new art, STEM, and other at-home learning resources via social media using #DigitalDaily4Kids. Please join us to share additional resources so that others can benefit. As always, we encourage everyone to keep planning for an awesome summer and use our free app for help researching camps and educational programs.