Parents today need to pay attention to the arts their kids make. They no longer should be looked at as just something to stow away or stick on the fridge. You need to look at it as a window to your child’s soul. You can use art as a medium for communicating with your child. They can use it to express their emotions. This is called art therapy.
Art therapy can be used to express the child’s more complex and difficult emotions after they identify it. This is a form of mental health therapy that is used for creating art by coloring, painting, drawing, or sculpting. It helps children to focus and brings a calm and satisfaction feeling that stays on for a long time.
Holidays, lockdowns, or at any other time, art is something you can indulge in with your child at home. These activities are not only fun but will also be beneficial for your child’s wellbeing too. To start off you can try paint by number kits to get him interested in art. Click here to check the paint by number kits online. Here are a few fun art activities you can try with your kids at times like the lockdown that will help you to bond with your child.
Try Painting Your Emotions
It’s not easy all the time to express your emotions or feelings in a family setting. So to get over this you can try a fun activity at home. You can all get together and ask all members of your family to paint what they are feeling at the very moment. After they finish, everyone can discuss and share what they have painted.
This way dialogue can be created and trust can be built between each other. You need to stress to your child that there is no definite right or wrong in what they paint and their feelings are heard and validated no matter what they are. Children should also be encouraged to talk about their choice of color, images, and drawings. This way they can let their inner feelings out.
Try Making Clay Handprints
If you want to teach your child the importance of having an individual identity then you can try sculpting handprints out of clay. For this, you and your child both will need a ball of clay. You need to flatten the ball until it roughly takes up the size of each of your palms. Now you need to make an imprint of your palm by pressing your hand down hard into the clay.
After you all have individual shapes of clay you can discuss and compare your prints to see how similar they are but yet how unique. You can even paint and exhibit the prints together after they dry. Playing with clay can be very relaxing and therapeutic as it has a sensory quality that is very tactile.
This makes it easy to control your child’s anger.
Try Painting In a Group
Painting in a group is excellent to encourage open dialog. If you are painting in a group with family members you can easily bond over it. You can also learn about the boundaries and space each member has. For this, you can use a large sheet of paper or glue several pieces together. All members must be allotted a place around the paper and start painting where they are, working their way towards the middle.
This should continue until all the paintings meet in the center. There should be no restrictions on what color each member can choose or how much they want to paint. After the painting is done you can all discuss in turn how the feeling of working together was for you and what you have experienced. This will encourage camaraderie in the family and help bring all members together.
Take Painting Outdoors
You can try moving the whole painting scene outdoors to a natural setting like a garden. Parents and children can each pick an object found in the garden, like a leaf, flower or insect to paint. Each member should be encouraged to discuss what they chose and the reasons behind choosing it.
Then everyone should draw or paint their chosen objects and after the painting is done you should take a look at everyone’s paintings and discuss the finished work. This way dialog between the family members is encouraged and everyone gets to spend a peaceful time outdoors.
Paint a Mandala
In ancient Sanskrit, mandala means circle. It represents the universe by having the pattern of a circle within a circle. You can draw this by drawing a small circle in the middle and continue drawing concentric patterns or circles outward. You can color the mandala in different shades with color pencils and markers.
Children will need the help of adults to complete the basic outline of the mandala. Drawing mandalas is an art in a repetitive format. That’s why it has a calming effect on the mind and helps to focus more. When your child colors the finished mandala then it also serves as a relaxing experience. This is due to the outlines serving as boundaries within which the coloring needs to be completed.
Draw Portraits of Each Other
This can be a fun family activity where you can invite the children to draw portraits of their parents or siblings. You can give them 30 minutes to draw the portraits on a piece of paper. After 30 minutes they will show what they have drawn and explain why they drew it in that manner. This way you can explore what your child thinks about other members of the family.
Conclusion
Discussed above are a few art therapies you can practice with your child during the lockdown. Trying any one of them will not only allow you to bond well with your child but will also be a therapeutic session. Your child will benefit a lot from these practices as it is a great way to express inner feelings and also communicate freely in another form. Have a great experience sharing art with your kid.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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