Grade PREK Course Navigation

Grade PreK Visual Art

How To Support Your Child

Art and play have an important role in your child’s physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Making art and allowing them to play can enhance your child's creativity, help them discover what they love, and develop life-long problem-solving skills. At this developmental level it is important to offer your child a variety tactile experiences and, opportunities to see and respond to art.

Here are some ideas and resources to try:

Children love to paint - set up a painting station in your house for your child to try out painting; provide paints and large handled brushes for them to try out.
Children have a natural tenacity for play let them build with blocks of all sorts. Make an area where children can construct and arrange their blocks into a world of their own they can even invite small toys and vehicles into these self-made worlds .
Use sidewalk chalk outside so children can make drawings about what they love or practice their letters and numbers.
Let children play in the sand either at the beach or a sandbox: provide cups, buckets and use shells, rocks and other natural objects to add embellishments.
Make drawing a game that you can play together, take turns collaborating on a drawing with any drawing tool pencil, crayon, marker, or pen.
Take a field trip to an art museum. Most museums have child-centered activities like scavenger hunts, mini-work shops where kids can make art related to a theme, or tours that allow for exploration that would be of interest.
Give your children materials that encourage them to create their own worlds – a stack of cardboard boxes, a trunk of dress-up clothes, blankets, pots and pans, for example.
Let children try to cut paper with blunt scissors they need to develop their fine motor skills and cutting things up can be FUN.
Celebrate your child’s artwork – hang their drawings on the wall or save it in a folder. That way, your child feels that their creation is important.