Art is more than just masterpieces hanging in a museum. You can find it in every moment of your ordinary everyday life. For children, being exposed to the arts can resonate throughout all of their learning and development. Involvement in the arts can lead to better math scores, higher levels of reasoning, increased cognitive skills and over all help in socialization. Although many of our surrounding schools are doing everything they can to provide their students with a background in art, it can be enhanced with what you, the parents, are teaching at home.
It can start very simply, Mozart for babies, trampoline classes for toddlers, canvas and cupcakes for the preteens and nights out to concerts or plays for your teen set. Art is not just pictures. It is music, theatre, cooking, crafts and so much more. Below you will find a list of ideas to introduce or to continue to cultivate art in your life. Try one out this week and then come up with your own ideas to keep the lines of artful communication open. Start an art revolution in your children’s lives and they will go on to help continue that art revolution in the world.
1 Go Exploring.
Whether you are in Owensboro or on a family vacation, find a gallery or museum. Almost every town has one. Take an hour, take two, and just breathe in your surroundings. Ask your children what they see, how they feel, if they understand – you will be learning more than just about art you will be exploring your children too.
Owensboro Museum of Fine Arts – They have a wonderful children’s program called Artland. Check it out!
Studio Slant – Right now, they have an art show with super heroes in it. Who doesn’t love super heroes!?
First Center for the Visual Arts – Nashville is not only for clothes shopping. You can broaden your mind there too.
Speed Art Museum – You can head to Louisville, spend the night in the 21c Museum hotel where art is everywhere including the bathrooms, catch a Louisville Bats game (sports can be art too!) and take a tour of the Speed Art Museum. An entire weekend dedicated to the arts and your family!
2 Saturday Afternoon Art Time.
Next time there is a sunny day, take an old bed sheet, paint, brushes, spray bottles of chalk or anything you have laying around the house and lay it out on the ground outside and let them go wild. The thrill that they are creating on mom’s linens and the sheer scale of the finished project will be entertainment enough and they will be expanding their minds and themselves.
3 Art Classes.
Studio Slant offers Canvas & Cupcakes once a month. At the end of the two-hour sessions, everyone will have created a masterpiece for their bedroom and indulged in some cupcakes. If the cupcake crumbs get in the painting that just makes everything a little bit sweeter.
4 The Internet.
Find a website that offers suggestions and how to’s for craft projects you can do at home. These ideas run the gamut from large to small and all end with a tangible item or a memory of time spent with family. We love www.thelongthread.com, but there are many other wonderful blogs and sites to enlighten yourself and your children.
5 Art on your walls.
Art should be displayed and enjoyed. Nothing is better than when a parent hangs your work on the refrigerator. Take it one step further and create a gallery in your own home. Empty frames hung on the wall can become an ever-changing gallery space. You could even have an “end of the week gallery opening.” Invite the entire family to enjoy what was created that week; serve cookies and milk to your art patrons and know that you have just taught your children the joy of creating art and expressing themselves.
Educators universally recognize the value of art and what it can do to enhance learning but they cannot do it alone. Get involved with your children’s art education by offering outlets at home and then get involved by helping the teachers you know bring art to all. Who knows– you may not be raising the next great artists, but the next great art admirer.