The 8 Benefits of Art Classes for Children

If you’re the parent of a budding artist, you’re probably wondering if it’s worth enrolling your child in art classes to help develop his or her talents. The answer to that is an unequivocal, “Yes!” Children who participate in art are not only able to improve the mechanics of their art, they also reap many other benefits.

Let’s take a look at the best benefits of art classes for children. You might be surprised at what you learn.

8 Best Benefits of Children’s Art Classeskids art

Improved self-confidence

Children in art classes learn self-confidence. They see that they can continuously improve as they master each skill. This can translate outside of the art studio and into real life. Once they learn to master one skill at a time, anything becomes possible.

A can-do attitude

When your child participates in art, she learns the discipline by trial and error. She sees that when she makes a mistake that she can back up, start over, and try again until she gets it right. Child artists understand that a positive outcome is possible if they don’t give up on trying.

Increased patience

Art is often a time-consuming and slow process. There are rarely moments of instant gratification. In this fast-paced world, kids who study art learn to slow down. They see that taking the time to do things the right way, the first time, helps them develop patience that is rare in children today.

Time management

You might really be wondering what art has to do with time management. The truth is…everything. Children learn that their time spent in the atelier is a set and limited block of time. What they do with that time is up to them.

If they spend their time engaged in idle chit-chat, they get less work done. However, they see that they make great strides when the focus on keeping focused on the project at hand and spend their time wisely.

Acceptance of constructive criticism

Art student will quickly learn to accept constructive criticism. It’s part of art. They will be critiqued by their instructor and other budding artists. Their work might eventually even go on exhibit at an amateur local art show or two and opened up to public critique.

Instead of being hurt or offended by these critiques, true artists learn to use that feedback to constantly improve upon their art skills. That’s a lesson we could all use!

Collaboration

Because art students do learn to accept the constructive criticism, they also learn to collaborate with others. In other words, they will not only accept feedback, they will seek it out and embrace it! They truly value input and learn to become great team players. This is especially true if your child is enrolled in group art classes.

Learning good work habits

Young artists learn good work habits. They understand the need to wait before interrupting someone who is hard at work. And, they learn to set up their work stations for success and to clean up after themselves before they leave their workspace for the day.

Seeing other points-of-view

Give a group of artists a bowl of fruit as subject matter to paint, and you’ll quickly learn that no two artists paint the fruit exactly the same. They will each interpret the bowl of fruit differently. Therefore, you’ll find variations in colors, lines, and light.

Does that make any one of those paintings right or wrong? No. Each artist sees things slightly differently and are very accepting of other points of view. For perspective, you can take a look at the work of Tim Holtz. Now don’t you wish they would wash the dishes with as little fight as they wash their paint brushes?

Summary

As a parent, it’s sometimes hard to place a value on a non-tangible item. Your children need clothes, school supplies, and nourishment. But when it comes to the “extras” you may pause and wonder if the price is worth the gain. In the case of art classes, your children will reap benefits that are truly priceless.

About the Author: Amanda Lee Jones is a teacher of children’s art classes in Austin, Texas. Her atelier studio setting provides instruction in a supportive group of budding artists. Amanda holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Texas State University.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.