Super Baby Album

Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

Grandparents can play a key role in encouraging creativity in their grandkids by providing them with the time, resources and the space for simply making art. When the grandchildren visit you, try to set aside interruption-free time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Make sure you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are 'caught' - because nothing squishes creativity more so than a Nanna or Pop  saying "Don't make a mess" every 2 minutes!

Pick the right drawing materials too as this is very important. Many craft materials can be improvised, think of decorated kitchen roll tubes and potatoes as stamps, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Ensure that you check safety information and always follow instructions. Young children should always be surpervised during ‘art time’ because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.

Surroundings: As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. With young children, a child-size table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. A standard coffee table and an inexpensive plastic chair work wonderfullyl. A small kitchen storage trolley is a perfect solution for containing supplies, or if space does not allow, a portable fishing tackle or tool box is a good option too. Untidy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!

Art Materials: Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore a waste of money. Provide many sheets of blank paper to inspire their crativity and occasionally invest in a large canvas so that your child can paint something ‘grand’ and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall!Also provide coloring books or coloring pages – of which you’ll find plenty online. Granted – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need to simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw.

Nothing much has changed since your children (their parents) were small – little boys still  typically enjoy coloring pictures of cars and trucks while little girls may enjoy coloring images of Barbie and at sites like Barbie Coloring Pages you’ll find the best free Barbie coloring.

When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of a child's life provide….

Toddlers

• Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
• Chalk boards and safe chalk
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Juniors

• Sketchbook
• Student colored pencils
• Washable Markers
• Oil pastels
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Middle School

• Sketchbook or scrapbook
• Graphite Pencils
• Watercolor sketch paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Marker pens, marker paper
• Plain paper and coloring pages

High School

• Sketchbook or scrapbook
• Quality drawing papers and boards
• Graphite Pencils
• Artists’ quality colored pencils
• Illustration markers, marker paper
• Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
• Plain paper and canvases to work on

All ages

• Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
• A folder for storing large pieces
• Storage boxes for smaller pieces
• Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.

The simple acts of drawing and coloring are literally childs’ play, however, both of these past-times play an important role in your child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. Like no other activity, the hobby of drawing and coloring allows young children to express emotions, experience autonomy and build their confidence.

Parents and caregivers can promote drawing and coloring as a way to improve physical, social, emotional and cognitive development-and to have a lot of fun along the way too. Here are some suggestions:

1. Provide your grankids with nontoxic materials, blank sheets of white paper and coloring pages.

2. Model drawing. Show children that you enjoy drawing and coloring too – make designs but do not show your children what they should draw.

3. Encourage all drawing and coloring efforts by talking about the beautiful colors, the lines and shapes the child has made.

4. Rather than ask “What is it?,” say “Tell me everything about your drawing”. Asking “What is it?” suggests to the child that he may have failed to draw the image correctly.

5. Talk about concepts like thin, thick, wide, narrow, dark, light, edge, shape, contour, etc.

6.Display their art in a prominent place – such as the kitchen fridge, and in places where visitors to your home will see them. Point them out to visitors, friends and relatives – the praise fthey will receive for the work will boost a child’s self esteeem and confidence.

7. Give children the freedom to choose the subjects of their drawings and of their coloring sheets. Some argue that coloring sheets do little to foster children’s creativity – however they play a pivotal role in developing a child’s fine motor skills – a pre-cursor to writing – and often encourage children who wouldn’t otherwise draw and color to pick up a crayon to color in their favourite character. For example at sites like Disney Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Disney coloring pages.

Always supervise younger children while they draw and color – crayons pose a choking risk.

The simple acts of drawing and coloring are literally childs’ play, however, they both play an important role in your child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. Like no other activity, the hobby of drawing and coloring allows young children to express emotions, experience autonomy and build their confidence.

Parents and caregivers such as teachers and grandparents can promote the hobby of drawing and coloring as a way to improve physical, social, emotional and cognitive development-and to have a lot of fun along the way too. Here are some suggestions:

1. Provide your grankids with nontoxic materials, blank sheets of white paper and coloring pages.

2. Model drawing. Show children that you enjoy drawing and coloring too – make designs but do not show your children what they should draw.

3. Encourage all drawing and coloring efforts by talking about the beautiful colors, the lines and shapes the child has made.

4. Rather than ask, “What have you drawn?,” say “Tell me about your drawing”.Asking “What is that?” suggests to the child that s/he has failed to depict what they intended.

5. Talk about issues such as thin or thick, or the concept of wide, narrow, dark, light, edge, shape, contour, etc.

6.Display their art in a prominent place – such as the kitchen fridge, and in places where visitors to your home will see them. Point them out to visitors, friends and relatives – the praise fthey will receive for the work will boost a child’s self esteeem and confidence.

7. Give children the freedom to choose the subjects of their drawings and of their coloring sheets. Some argue that coloring sheets do little to foster children’s creativity – however they play a pivotal role in developing a child’s fine motor skills – a pre-cursor to writing – and often encourage children who wouldn’t otherwise draw and color to pick up a crayon to color in their favourite character. For example little girls may enjoy coloring images of fairytale princesses while boys enjoy coloring images of favourite characters such as Pokemon or Spongebob Squarepants and at sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find many Spongebob printables Please supervise children as they draw and colour because crayons are a choking hazard!.

Here are a dozen play-time ‘recipes’ to help keep your children entertained on school holidays or rainy days.  Learn how to make homespun goop, papier mâché, cinnamon ornaments, soap crayons and much more. Pull out this printed article and stick it on your fridge – it will be one of your best weapons against the ‘boredom’ gremlins!

Washable window paints
A selection of tempera paints (powdered or premixed)
Clear dishwashing liquid
Mix powdered paints with dishwashing liquid until they resemble house paint. Line the window sashes with masking tape and spread newspaper under the window area to protect flooring. To erase paint or touch up mistakes just wipe paint away with a dry paper towel.

Home-made coloring books

Go online and download a dozen or so coloring book pages and collate them into a coloring book. Put this aside for rainy days or for long car/train/plane journeys. Little girls love to color images from fairy tales and of Princesses while boys prefer images of cars and trucks and of favorite characters such as Pokemon’s Pikachu. At sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages you’ll find  an array of Pokemon printables

Cinnamon ornaments
3/4-1 cup applesauce
1 (4.12-oz.) bottle of ground cinnamon
Mix applesauce with cinnamon to form a stiff dough. Roll out to a thickness of 5mm. Cut out a shape with the cookie cutter and make a hole for the ribbon using the end of a drinking straw. Carefully put this aside to dry for several days – turning occasionally. This recipe makes 12 sweet smelling ornaments/drawer scenters.

Goop

2 packets of cornflour
2 cups of water
Several drops of food colouring

Place newspaper or plastic sheets on your work surface. Mix the ingredients in a large bowl. Children love goop’s squeezy and squishy consistency. You can also use black or coloured paper to make goop paintings that are very different – if you wish. To remove goop from carpets, allow it to dry, then brush vigorously or vacuum. The great thing about goop is that it may be re-used after it has dried out. Crumble it into a powder then restore it to its original consistency by adding water a tablespoonful at a time.

Funny putty
2 tablespoons of white glue
1 tablespoon of liquid starch
Food colouring
Mix glue together with the desired food colour. Pour starch over top. Swish so that all the glue is covered. Let set 5 minutes. Squeeze off extra starch and knead until mixed.

Bubbles
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of glycerine
2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap
Mix water, glycerine and soap. Pour in sugar. Add food colouring if desired.

Papier mâché

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
1/2 inch strips of newspaper
Balloon/s

In a large bowl, mix flour and water – add more flour is mixture is too sloppy (dripping). Place newspaper strips into mixture, then smooth onto blown up balloon. Cover the balloon completely twice, letting it dry in between layers. Do not cover the balloon’s knot. Dry in a nice, warm place for two or three days… then hold the knot and pop the balloon with a pin. Paint, glitter and decorate the balloon as is or cut in half so you have a bowl/hat shape to embellish.

Modelling/play dough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
water
food colouring

Mix the ingredients and knead to a dough consistency. Place the dough artwork in the oven on a low heat to speed up the drying process.

Soap crayons

1 3/4 cups of soap flakes

50 drops food colouring
1/4 cup water

Mix water and soap flakes together. Add food colouring and put mixture into an ice cube tray. When hardened, pop the ‘ice cubes’ out. These soap crayons are fun to write with on the tub and tiles during bath time. If grouting stains – make sure to spray with a weak solution of bleach.

Sand dye

Fine sand

Water

Food colouring

Paper cups

Plastic spoons

Fill paper cups half full with sand. Next, add water to cups to completely cover sand. Add food colouring to get the desired colour. Stir thoroughly with a plastic spoon and let set for 15 minutes. Pour off water, spoon sand onto paper towels and spread the sand out to dry. Use sand to make pictures (spread glue on paper and sprinkle sand on top) or to fill pretty bottles in layers.

Cornstarch Art/Finger-paint

3 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

2 drops of dishwashing liquid

1 cup boiling water

Food colouring

Combine cornstarch and cold water – stir until smooth. Add dishwashing liquid. Pour boiling water into the bowl and stir until the mixture thickens. Add food colouring and then set aside to let it cool. Use as you would finger paint.

Puffy Paint

Flour

Salt

Water

Tempera paint

Mix equal parts of flour, salt and water in a bowl. Add a small amount of tempera paint to the mixture and pour into a small plastic squeezy bottle. Repeat this over and over to make as many colours as you wish. Squeeze this onto heavy paper or cardboard to make crazy designs. This mixture will harden into puffy shapes.

Colourful Salt

1/2 cup salt

5 to 6 drops of food colouring

Add food colouring to salt. Stir it well. Cook this in a microwave oven for 1-2 minutes or spread on waxed paper and let salt air dry. Store in an airtight container and use whenever you please, just as you would glitter.

The simple acts of drawing and coloring are  literally childs’ play, however, they both play an important role in a child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. Like no other activity, drawing  and coloring allows young children to express emotions, experience autonomy and build their confidence. Drawing and coloring are also excellent pre-cursors to developing writing skills because the toddler is honing his or her fine motor skills which are essential when learning to write.

Parents and caregivers can promote drawing and coloring  as a way to improve physical, social, emotional and cognitive development – and to have a lot of fun along the way too. Here are some suggestions:

1.Provide children with nontoxic drawing materials, blank sheets of  paper and coloring pages.

2. Model drawing. Show children that you enjoy drawing and coloring too – make designs but do not show your children what they should draw.

3.Encourage all drawing and coloring activity and efforts by talking about the beautiful colors, the lines and shapes the child has made.

4.Rather than ask, “What have you drawn?,”  say “Tell me about your drawing”.Asking “What is that?” suggests to the child that he may have failed to draw the image correctly.

5. Talk about concepts like  thin, thick, wide, narrow, dark, light, edge, shape, contour, etc.

6. Display their art on the kitchen fridge, in their room and in places where visitors to your home will see them. Point them out to visitors, friends and relatives – the praise fthey will receive for the work will boost a child’s self esteeem and confidence.

7. Give children the freedom to choose the subjects of their drawings and of their coloring sheets. For example little boys  may enjoy coloring images of  cars, trucks or a favourite character such as Pokemon -  and at sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages you’ll find Pokemon  colouring page. Little girls on the other hand prefer images from fairy tales such as Princess pictures - choose whatever pleases your child to encourage their enthusiasm for the activity and their interest in it. 

8.  Always supervise younger children while they draw and color – crayons pose a choking risk.

The merits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring for kids are regularly argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they have on child development. However, it is difficult to disagree with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to take part in arts and crafts.

Creativity – Ask anyone what the first personality characteristic arts and crafts develop in a young child and most will answer ‘creativity’. And they are correct. Everyone has natural talents and skills and it is possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a little natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and profit from new
ideas, options and alternatives in any future career. Kids learn to do things in new and alternate ways and literally profit from thinking “out of the box”.

Perseverance – Perseverance is perhaps the single most important quality for any successful individual – be they a a business person, sportsman or other professional. In fact, most well-known breakthroughs in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance. For instance, children learn to keep trying until they complete the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet. If something goes wrong… they are encouraged to perservere by trying different ways and means and the outcome is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.

Concentration – Akin to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual. Drawing, coloring, sculpting, painting and even doodling will definitely teach your child to focus on one specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In short they overall concentration will definitely improve.

Even from a young age children can draw and color – so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble away to their hearts content whilst also improving their fine motor skills.

For example little girls enjoy coloring images of princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Tinkerbell coloring

Little boys on the other hand tend to prefer images of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies are also hits with little boys.

Give your child several opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials and resources and the occasional canvas so that they can be creative and feel pride in what they create.

Encourage creativity in your children by providing them with the time, resources, encouragement and the space for making art. Try to set aside interruption-free time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Make sure you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are ‘caught’ – because nothing squishes creativity more so than a parent saying “Don’t make a mess” at regular intervals.

Choosing the right drawing materials is also very important. Many craft materials can be improvised, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Be sure to check safety information and follow instructions. Young children should always be surpervised during ‘art time’ because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.

Surroundings:As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. A child sized table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. An inexpensive plastic chair  set in front of a coffee table works well. A small kitchen storage trolley is perfect for containing supplies, or if space does not allow, a portable fishing tackle box is a great option too. Messy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!

Art Materials:Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore  a waste of money. Provide many sheets of plain blank paper to inspire their creativity and occasionally invest in a canvas so that your child can paint something and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall!  Provide also coloring books or coloring pages which are bountiful online – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the  chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need. They can simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw.  Little boys typically enjoy coloring pictures of cars and trucks while little girls usually enjoy colouring images of princesses and fairies - sites like like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find many coloring pictures of fairies

When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of your child’s life provide….

Toddlers:

• Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
• Chalk boards and safe chalk
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Juniors:

• Sketchbook
• Student colored pencils
• Washable Markers
• Oil pastels
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Middle School:

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Graphite Pencils
• Watercolor sketch paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Marker pens, marker paper
• Plain paper and coloring pages

High School

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Quality drawing papers and boards
• Graphite Pencils
• Artists’ quality colored pencils
• Illustration markers, marker paper
• Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
• Plain paper and canvases to work on

All ages:

• Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
• A  folder for storing large pieces
• Storage boxes for smaller pieces
• Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.

The simple acts of drawing and coloring are  literally childs’ play, however, they both play an important role in your grandchild’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. Like no other activity, drawing  and coloring allows young children to express emotions, experience autonomy and build their confidence. 

Parents and caregivers such as grandparents can promote drawing and coloring  as a way to improve physical, social, emotional and cognitive development-and to have a lot of fun along the way too. Here are some suggestions:

1.         Provide your grandchildren with nontoxic drawing materials, blank sheets of  paper and coloring pages.

2.       Model drawing. Show children that you like to draw and color too -  make designs but do not show your children what they  should draw.

3.  Encourage all drawing and coloring activity and efforts by talking about the beautiful colors, the lines and shapes the child has made.

4.       Rather than ask ”What is it?,” say “Tell me everything about your drawing”.Asking “What is that?” suggests to the child that he may have failed to draw the image correctly.

5.       Talk about concepts like  thin, thick, wide, narrow, dark, light, edge, shape, contour, etc.

6.Display their art in a prominent place – such as the kitchen fridge, and in places where visitors to your home will see them. Point them out to visitors – the praise for the work will boost a child’s self esteeem and confidence. 

7.       Give children the freedom to choose the subjects of their drawings and of their coloring sheets. Some argue that coloring sheets do little to foster children’s creativity – however they play a pivotal role in developing a child’s fine motor skills – a pre-cursor to writing – and often encourage children who wouldn’t otherwise draw and color to pick up a crayon to color in their favourite character. For example little girls  may enjoy coloring images of  fairytale princesses while boys enjoy coloring images of favourite characters such as Pokemon or Spongebob Squarepants and at sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find many Spongebob Squarepants printables Always supervise younger children while they draw and color – crayons pose a choking risk.

Creativity plays a crucial in presentation. You can use creativity in the selection of subject, what content you include and how you deliver it. There are many valuable resources to help you in creativity.

As always, practising, and trialling new approaches is the way to progress .

Likewise, two brains or more is superior than one. It is sensible developing an informal network that can help you with creativity. When you assist them with their problems, you improve your own creativity skills. Two people with different backgrounds is better than two alike people, as they are more likely to build on each others ideas.

There are however some advantages of sole brainstorming, a common tool for making money. You can do it any time, you can be truthful (I trust), not concerned about what anyone may feel, or even worse say (though ALL ideas are GOOD ideas). It is also an efficient use of time and you will be well stimulated.

Permit as much time to the task as you can. It is great to leave the problem overnight. The mind will work, as you sleep on the problem. This was revealed in a study with students. In experiments carried out by Wagner and his co-workers, volunteers tackled arithmetic questions and then took an eight-hour break. Those who slept during the break were twice as likely to realise that there was a veiled rule that considerably simplified the calculations

An additional motivation to allow time, from starting the task is that, person is most creative when their brains are working with Alpha waves, which is when one is stress-free. At these times folks are more liable to think of great ideas. How many of your wonderful ideas have arrived when you have been comfortable, in the shower, whilst jogging, strolling in the country?

Some individuals are mistaken that alcohol and coffee help with creativity, all studies show that this is not correct, they reduce these crucial alpha brain waves.

An uncomplicated creativity approach is:
1. Identify the problem. Put this down on paper.
2. Record your ideas in a column, with a line between each row, on a big piece of paper.
3. For every idea, treat your first idea as too narrow, so create another column, and by its side add  an additional,more universal thought. If thinking about holidays to Sri Lanka, you might replace it with holidays to Asia.
4. For each original idea, treat it as too wide, so for Thailand, you may write dangers of local food.
5. Re-assess your records and highlight the items that are good. Remove those that are not in line with your objectives.
6. Write out what your summary is. Leave it convenient – the toilet door!
7. You can then revisit, and generally drill down into more detail for your task. Then re-evaluate. If you are not getting enough material for your presentation, go wider.

Using creativity to develop your public speaking will lead to better presentations .