Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Discover the Power of Art


Looking leads to learning. At Barefoot, we are convinced that introducing high-quality images to children at an early age, as well as encouraging children to express themselves visually, plays a critical part in their emotional and intellectual development.

Here are some guidelines on helping the children you know to develop their artistic potential:
  1. Give your child space to be creative - All you need is paper and crayons, a small table or easel, and a child-size chair or cushion, in the corner of a playroom or bedroom.
  2. Show that you value art too - Join your child and do your own drawings, paintings, and model making.
  3. Encourage your child to respect the materials - Have them look after the paper, brushes and paints carefully.
  4. Provide as many different types of paint, paper and other paintable surfaces as you can. - You don't need to run up the tab in your local art shop, though. The back of an old envelope, the inside of wrapping paper, excess packaging from a visit to the supermarket, can all easily be converted into art materials.
  5. Let your child experiment with different tools and techniques. - Try collage and model making as well as with paints and crayons; with brushes of all shapes and sizes; with twigs, old toothbrushes, potato cuts, combs, sponges, bits of flannel. Anything goes, but make it clear what is out of bounds!
  6. Share pictures and illustrations. - Reflect the world in different ways so that your child can see that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to be artistic.
  7. Collect materials for art projects when you are out and about. - Twigs, sticks, leaves and grasses in the park, fabric from charity/thrift shops, stones and pebbles from beaches and riverbanks, can all be turned into something exciting and special.
  8. Recycle what you have around the house. - Roll up old plastic bags to make rope; keep wrapping paper from presents; give outdated magazines and last season's clothes a second lease of life.
  9. Create a display area for your child's work. - Use a wall of your kitchen or playroom and children's confidence gets a huge boost when their work is noticed and talked about.
  10. Talk to your child about pictures and images that you see when outside. - Visit art galleries and talk about the pictures you like and what they say to you.
Children who learn to be creative when they are young never lose this quality. They become the innovators of the future. The skills they learn, and the emotions they associate with the activities they pursued as small children, will go on enriching and informing their lives as adults. Encouraging an early love of art also helps children to develop their capacity for self-expression and for self-exploration, bringing out their unique and particular talents and qualities as young people.

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7 comments:

  1. i have to agree with this one. funnily enough, though i had a lot of coloring and activity books when i was little, no one really taught me to draw, that is, i had no formal education whatsoever. my mom was more of getting me into physical activities because i seemed like such a loner ;-) it was more of karate, swimming, ballet, piano and other things. i regret not having been able to go to art school, but funnily, as an architect, i'm still into art nevertheless.

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  2. Oh, Thanks for that tips about my problem in EC. But there's yet another problem eh. I do not know how to produce that 125 x 125 image. I've read from other blog that one can go to photobucket and make the 125 x 125 image from there. Still, I can't. Anyway, I'll keep tryin' and I know I'll learn it too. Thanks, Mira!

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  3. great tips and blog you have here. i came by for the drop but will sign up to your feed.

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  4. I just started selling Barefoot books, and just love your blog its a sorce of encourgement, keep the good work up...

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  5. Hi Mira.
    I didn´t know about this books untill I found your blog.
    My girl is 8 and this year she´s going to start learning english in school.
    I like all your blogs and I´m passing you an award.
    When you have time, please check my post in Countryhome blog.
    All the best, Mizé.

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  6. Although my one and only child and son is grown, I love what you are doing here.

    You are an asset to the blogging world, and I would like to pass the "I Love Your Blog" award to you. You can retrieve it at my blog, "Valley of the Subconscious".

    ~Best Wishes~
    Keep up the good work.

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  7. I never let my kids paint in the house... it is just too messy and hard for me to clean.

    thanks for the tips... just dropping EC here.

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