Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Importance of a Child's Artistic Expression

Many parents report that the creative outlet helps their children learn to express themselves in safe, nurturing ways. According to one study, art plays a key role in cognitive and social development in children. Often, by working on an art project young students are able to work through the basic personal and social problems that occur in their lives. The art provides an outlet for new or difficult emotions. In addition to mental, social, and emotional benefits that children and young students gain from expressing their creativity, there are also physical advantages. Especially in young children, digital art lessons hone hand-eye coordination and teach muscle control.



Whether a young child is a budding Picasso or simply enjoys the creative process for its own sake, he or she can benefit from art instruction. In addition to being a enjoyable and inexpensive hobby for young students, digital art helps them to develop life skills that they will use forever. The creative, social, and cognitive benefits to a developing mind cannot be easily overestimated.

Monday, October 10, 2011

5th grade


"Imagine Fort Worth with no Violence" art contest. I love the work that my 5th graders produced. They worked super hard on these.

2nd grade-dragon

Everyone loves drawing this dragon. This is a great way to talk about shape and color. For my 2nd graders, they were given a dragon head template and asked to trace around it. The template is a great way to encourage using the whole paper to draw. Otherwise, you end up with teeny dragons. Then, I led them in a step by step drawing while pointing out the shapes and lines in the art. I left the coloring up to them.