Enjoyable Ways for Your Child to Explore Art

One of the finest things you can do to support your child's creative personality is to show them an appreciation and fondness for art at a younger age. Because kids love to explore many things in life, it is often quite rewarding to give them experiences which are really enriching when they are young. In order to avoid squelching their sense of experimentation it is important to keep the general focus on fun and exploration, instead of giving them the impression that there is a correct or incorrect way to create art. If you are searching for ways to boost your little one's appreciation of art, below are some exploration projects that will be enjoyable for both you and your child.

Playing With Finger Paints

Even a very small child can have fun with finger paints The idea of using their hands to apply and move around the paint is usually quite appealing to children. Also, finger paints can be very straightforward to use, and affordable as well. All you need is a good supply of paper, an assortment of finger paint colors, a protected table surface, and an apron or old clothes for the child to wear. You might even make your own homemade finger paints by combining a quarter cup of cornstarch, a quarter teaspoon of salt, one and one half tablespoons of sugar, and one cup of cold water together in a saucepan. Cook this mixture over low temperature for about ten minutes, and be sure that you stir it continuously. When the mixture has thickened to the look and feel you desire for your finger paint, remove the pan from the heat and give it time to cool. Divide it into small plastic containers, add a few drops of food coloring to each, and you'll have lots of colorful finger paints for your son or daughter to enjoy. As soon as their paintings are dry you can put some in colorful large picture frames, this will enable them to enjoy the pride of having their own artwork exhibited on the wall.

Crayon Scratch Art

Crayon scratch art is often a popular choice among children, since they seem to enjoy an element of surprise in their art. To begin, cover up the table with paper or a plastic tablecloth to help protect the surface. Also, because of stray pieces of crayon often dropping off of the table, it may also be a good idea to place some kind of protection on the floor, maybe a drop cloth or even some paper. Provide your child with several pieces of drawing paper, along with plenty of different colors of crayons. Encourage them to use a variety of different colors to draw designs on the paper, making sure to cover the entire paper surface in colors. Make sure they do not use black crayons for this step in the process. Next, have your child use a black crayon to cover the whole surface of their paper, including all of the colors. Provide them with a wooden popsicle stick or perhaps a plastic spoon, and allow them to scratch designs onto the paper. This will take away the black crayon coating, and reveal the colors underneath. In order to get the effect they wish, they may decide to scratch off as little or as much of the black crayon as they would liketo. When they are finished, brush off the paper to remove any loose particles of crayon. The end result is a kind of inverted art, which can be very interesting. Display a few of their best artwork in shiny metal picture frames.

Your youngsters will love showing their artistic personalities with these simple but fun projects.


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Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames. Display your favorite photos in one of our 5x7 black picture frames. Shop online and see our photo frames now or call 800-780-0699.