How to incorporate Art into your everyday life with your little ones.
All art forms have been proven to help develop children’s cognitive skills, language development, self expression/emotional regulation, and physical development.* Based on this research,* many early childhood educators have begun to incorporate art into their classrooms, but how can we support our child’s artistic journeys at home?
I have compiled a list of some quick and easy ways to incorporate art in your already busy daily lives below. Please comment and let me know if you already do some of these things, are planning on trying them out, or have other ideas!
Morning Routine
Create a playlist for waking up and/or for your morning routine.
Listening to music when you first wake up can help boost your mood, helps motivate you and your little one to get ready for the day and can encourage movement, such as dance.
Some of my favorite morning tunes are:
Here Comes the Sun by Andrew & Polly
Somebody Say Toothpaste by Sesame Street
Buenos Dias by Grow Up Singing
Good morning Blues by Brother Yusef
Mealtimes
While we don’t always want to encourage playing with our food, making faces and designs out of food is a simple and easy way to encourage art in yours and your child’s daily life. An added bonus is that creating art out of food can sometimes encourage kids to try new foods and maybe even eat their less favorite foods too!
A simple smiley face out of berries on a kids favorite breakfast or sandwich will do, but here is some inspiration if you would like to create more complex art work out of your food.
Dramatic Play
Need your child to occupy themselves for a little while but don’t want to increase their screen time? Try creating a dramatic play area. Dramatic play encourages children to create their own story line which helps with language development, creativity and confidence.
How to set up the best Dramatic Play Area:
Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a lot of props for dramatic play. In fact the fewer items, the more your child needs to use their imagination.
2-3 clothes items such as apron, hats, or costumes
Various sized props such as play food, play dough, kitchen containers and utensils. Pro tip: try using open ended props such as blocks, pompoms, or other manipulatives that can be used over and over again for different scenarios. That way you aren’t switching things out every week for a different play theme.
A few shelves or empty containers to store all of the items
Lastly, label all containers or shelves with words and a photo to make clean up time way easier for you and your child.
Click Here for more ideas for setting up a dramatic play area.
For Really Young Artists
I recommend tummy time with finger paint. Don't worry this is a mess free craft!
Instructions: Place a sheet of paper with several dots of finger paint inside of a clear, sealable plastic bag. Tape with masking tape on the floor in front of your baby and let them explore and create art without the mess. Click Here for more detailed instructions and images.
Bath time
Creating a playlist. and listening to music is a great way to make anything extra fun. However if music is not enough to spice up your bath routine, another way to make bath time extra fun and filled with art is by adding non toxic bath bombs or color bubble bath soap. A gentle reminder to make sure to follow the instructions on each product for safe use.
Don't have kid friendly bath bombs or color fizzers? No worries, try this home recipe for Colorful Bath Foam from the image above.
OR
Try this natural color bubble bath, which is safe for sensitive skin.
Bedtime Routine
Singing lullabies is a great way to decompress and bond with your child at night. Other ways to include art in your night time routine are reading or creating stories together and coloring with quiet music and dim lights.
Some of my favorite lullabies are:
Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and the Wailers
La La Lu by Lori Carsillo
Moon Above by Stephanie Leavell
Lullaby (Goodnight my Angel) by The Wishing Jar
Breathe by Stephanie Leavell (this song is also great for emotion regulation in general).
Hopefully, you find these ideas easy to incorporate into your daily routines. If you try out one of them, please let me know how it goes!
Comments