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Money saving tips >
Sports and the Arts |
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Art Matters - Affording Creativity
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| The best thing you can do for baby after giving him or her the
breast is giving her crayons. Forget your fear that you can’t afford
to offer art- you can’t afford not to, for an astonishing range of
reasons. But you don’t have to enroll Junior in expensive ballet
classes or exclusive art camps. Just set aside a giant box as a
tickle trunk or treasure chest, and start loading it up with age
appropriate odds and ends to get his creativity flowing. |
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| Rhoda Kellogg’s seminal 1967 work, The Psychology of Children’s
Art, documented 8000 creations of toddlers aged two to three. She
observed that first kids draw some basic squiggles and shapes, and
then patterns and placements begin to emerge. Kellogg noted the
development of cohesive pictures along with fine motor skills. In
elementary school years, creative play in art, music, or dance
encourages a whole host of skills in imagination and interaction
that actually benefit kids in areas like math and science, too.
Today, with “unnecessary” programs being slashed in schools and
communities, it’s more important than ever to make art a home
priority. |
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| “Children who spend time in school doing visual art, performing
music or dance, or even acting in a play gain a whole set of
creative and analytical skills that are quickly disappearing from
the rest of the curriculum,” Richard Kessler, executive director of
the Center for Arts Education in New York City, told Parenting’s
Nancy Kalish. |
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| But can your daughter’s little dance performance or finger
painting change her life- and yours? Yes. Creating something from
nothing gives her new skills in dexterity and helps form healthy
brain cells. Drawing pictures and listening to music helps her
explore her own thoughts and reactions. Artistic activities also
foster confidence building. They teach her to work on her own- and
conversely, to interact with others and consider their ideas, when
it’s time for team play. Even the simplest garage staging of
Sleeping Beauty means practicing organizational skills, and finding
out what works and what doesn’t through trial and error. Accolades
boost that confidence again, but tepid responses help him learn to
handle disappointment. |
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| Benefits you may not have considered are arguably even more
vital. Art gives kids ways to banish boredom, a lifelong tool. Art
can occupy your child, freeing up Mom and Dad to get other things
done- but it can also create a tremendous bond when you share
activities together. Art also gives caregivers a window into what
your child is thinking, helping you see into his interior world. The
front row centre glimpse can help you keep track of emotional or
experiential disturbances. Your kids may not tell you about traumas,
but they will show it in their pictures and in poetry. If your child
is sharing a nightmare with you- abuse, developmental problems,
mental illness- you will be better and faster equipped to tackle the
problems head on. Finally, art helps to heal kids from traumas like
these- and more. Art programs in refugee camps in Eastern Europe,
among kids in Rwanda and Cambodia and beyond have proved
tremendously successful in helping kids cope with unspeakable
realities. |
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| It’s time for Mom and Dad to be creative if budgeting drama
classes or buying a cello just aren’t in the cards. |
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First things first: set up that tickle trunk. Fill it
with materials gathered at yard sales- kids learn on TV that
everything has to be new. Show them otherwise. At a church
bazaar, garage sale, or dollar store, stock up on
watercolour paints, magazines that can be cut up, nontoxic
glue, safe scissors, old greeting cards, plasticine and
clay, popsicle sticks, glitter, feathers, buttons, fabric,
etc. etc. etc. |
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Help get the ball rolling by suggesting activities. Make
collages together, or paint each other’s faces up like
clowns. |
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Help your son or daughter and some neighbourhood kids
stage a simple play one Sunday afternoon. Have one child
write a few lines, using a familiar favourite story as the
basis, another find outfits, and so forth. Invite the
parents! |
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Help kids get comfortable in their bodies and get active
by making a “music video.” Discuss the meaning of the song,
incorporate some dancing and make believe, and even sing.
You can even put it on YouTube! |
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Keep your eyes peeled in the community newspaper for
free or pay what you can events- take your kids to see a
play at church. In summer, lots of dance troupes rehearse
outdoors or have free practices. It’s never too early to
introduce symphonies or musicals- just make sure you choose
short ones, and engage your kids by talking about the
instruments, the songs, etc. |
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Tell your kids you want them to “write a book” for your
birthday present or for Grandma in the hospital. Have them
write little stories or poems on a few pages, and illustrate
them. If they need an idea, give them one- Grandma meets an
alien; Mom ruins dinner with too much hot sauce; love poems
for favourite kittens. |
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Check out some galleries together. Most museums have a
free day. Don’t force yourself into frustrated exhaustion.
Just go for an hour and learn about famous artists together. |
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Create a gallery “scavenger hunt” for a birthday party
for preteen kids. List 10 or 15 cues and send kids off in
pairs to hunt together. They will need to look at titles and
blurbs and carefully inspect artwork to fulfill the clues.
Examples might include, “a painting with a fruit bowl;” “a
Bible story;” “a beautiful woman:” “Northern Ontario,” and
so on. |
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Learn about other cultures and arts through National
Geographic. Make masks inspired by pictures or articles you
cut out together. |
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Encourage your child to make a scrapbook about his or
her life. You’ll get a close up glimpse to what’s important
to him as time goes by. If he forgets about it, bring it up
once in a while on a rainy day. You can make one, too. |
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Combine literature and art by asking your kids to draw a
scene from a book they’re reading- Charlotte’s Web, Harry
Potter, Harriet the Spy… |
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Head out to parades to see bagpipes, brass bands, and
costumes. |
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| There are thousands of projects you can do for pennies. Sign out
craft books from the library, and Google galore. The best thing
about inspiring your kids to be imaginative is that you’ll
rediscover it, too. |
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