Saving the artist in your child!

Last week, we got to attend the 'Parent - Adult - Interaction' at my son's school. My son Yash is almost 10 years old now. The experience was fantastic and we came home feeling satisfied with his growth and development, once again our confidence in our choice of school for him was reiterated.

The art teacher showed us his paintings and told us something, that has got the educator in me, thinking. She said that his paintings were really good, with bold usage of colours, confident strokes (reminded me of Taare Zameen Par 😜 ). However, she added that he is not confident of himself as an artist, and felt that his initiation into art has been wrong. He thinks pencil and pen rather than colours (paints) and brush. She said that he was probably introduced to art as 'colour within the lines', 'fill the picture with colours' and other similar activities that did not do him any good.

This is true at most schools and homes. In the name of art, we make children produce 'conveyor belt' pieces of work. Works that look pretty when a parent picks up the child, or look similar when the teacher hangs it around the classroom. As parents, we like to see our children create something that we can understand, and be able to recognise and label.

I believe that art should be devoid of rules and boundaries. Children should be allowed to express freely. Rather than 'teaching' about colours, children should be allowed to explore colours through play and creation. The process of creating a piece of art and craft is much more important than the end product. It should be about expressing what's within and not just mimicking what the adult tells / shows them.

 Art exploration is another form of play. It will reap all the benefits, akin to play. By stimulating the multiple senses to engaging the brain, practising right method of art exploration can be an exercise in brain building. Practicing art is a personal act. It is unique to each child and hence the outcome of each will be different. Especially in a classroom, we should not do art for the purpose of doing art, which will look like this - All children given same material, taking turns, repeating the same 'art' one after the other, under the teacher's watchful eye. Imagine, if we could have classrooms or homes where children are allowed to express themselves with whatever material they want, when they want and how they want. For example, let's assume the child has just been told a story of a bunny. Following this, a typical art activity would be to make bunnies with paper and cotton sticking. Instead, if we allow the child to give the narrative for the story, you will see imagination sparkling, ideas bursting from within. You have a little 'maker' on your hands. Find below some points that we would look at doing differently, as parents or as teachers.

Art and Craft Activity	What we are doing…	What we should change it to….
Hand Print / Finger Print painting	I have seen scores of parents and teachers who dip the child's hand in paint and make a hand print. We promptly add to this print and make it into a fish or a bird or anything else that we fancy. Two things wrong in this scenario - Firstly, the child did not even realise he/she was doing art. It was entirely the adult driving the activity. Secondly, even if the child wanted to add to that lovely hand print, we take it away and make it 'beautiful' by adding our touches to it. How does this remain a child's art? The adult takes great joy in this activity. But the child's hand is just a template, as if it were just a tool and it was not attached to a brain that could have thoughts on its own.	Finger / hand painting is a great sensorial activity, as it heightens the sense of touch. It is also good for fine motor development. Instead of making just prints, we should allow children to explore painting with the hand. Yes, it will get messy. But it is sure to bring out the Picasso in our children. We can have different textured canvas for the paining, such as corrugated sheets, plain paper, glossy paper, bubble wrap, etc., to elevate the experience. We have to be careful to only present the stimulus, and allow the child to use the materials as they deem fit.
Structured Art and Craft activities	I’m combining all art and craft activities that are supposed to be made from the paper plates, ice cream sticks, and other craft materials, that end up looking the same as the original. Whether at home or at school, as adults, we make / show a sample and ask the children to replicate it. The same colours, the same design and the same process of making it. We feel that we are giving them direction, a sense of what is expected so it’s easy for the children. Children are given step – by – step instructions to complete the activity.	Follow ‘Process Focused Art’. There are no step-by-step instructions. There is no sample for children to replicate, infact, there is no right or wrong way to explore and create. The art is focused on the experience or the process itself, and on exploration of techniques, tools, and materials. The experience calms the child. The art is entirely the children’s own and it is original. Children can take inspiration but motivate them to use ideas are not readily available online.
Colouring	We buy colouring books or print out clip art for our children and expect them to colour it. This is a fun activity to keep the children occupied. This is also most popular with schools to execute in their classrooms and send as ‘proof that your child was not JUST PLAYING’ in the school. These are also easy to put up as ‘fridge art’. Easy to clean up afterward as there is no mess. Colouring activities are good, in the sense that they keep the children away from other non-conducive activities like being thrusted in front of gadgets (baby sitter of the modern age)	While colouring in can be a therapeutic tool for an adult, for a toddler who is yet to hold a pencil with the right grip, it just seems boring. Let’s not thrust a pencil or pen in a child’s hand before he is ready to use it (has a pincer grip). Colouring in can be with different materials such as paper, fabric, paint, cotton, etc. Let’s once again, give the choice to the children. Let’s also assure that we will not force the child to ‘stay within the lines’. Allowing the child to create might bring out the Van Gogh waiting inside.
Arty Space and materials	There is usually a designated space for doing art and craft, wheter at home or school. Children are given specific materials and asked to work with those. We usually think of art as colourful, on a paper or canvas, and have expectations that the end product will be fantastic.	Art can be practiced anywhere (which is why most toddlers use the walls of our homes;) ) . Infact, it is better to practice art in the outdoors. We should have children appreciate the various textures and colours in nature. Instead of teaching children that the sky is blue, we should allow them to experience the sky in it’s different hues and use that for inspiration. The falling leaves, the flowers and the bees, are all catalysts for imagination. Children will practice art even by just drawing in the sand with a stick. It’s time we allow that.
Cutting, Resizing, Editing, adding, deleting…	Once children have completed some form of art activity like dabbing, colouring, etc., we tend to edit children’s work by cuttingit out to make it more suitable for presentation. We even resize it to remove the part where the child has coloured outside the line, for instance.	We need to teach children that they need to take pride in all their work. Each is a master piece. Teaching them to write their name, or sign their initials is a great way to teach ownership. Once this master piece is created, we have no right to edit it or correct it. Let the child see the development for himself / herself from previous tries.

Wishing that all of us have the strength to practice the 'ART' of good parenting!!