52 Ways to help your child

Creative Arts

20. Keep your child supplied with sheets of paper, crayons, finger paints, modeling clay, burlap, paste, marking pens, scraps of cloth, styrofoam, yarn, scraps of wood and water colors. Provide work space for the child and encourage the creation of works of art.
21. Proudly display your child's best creations on the wall, door, bulletin board. Give frequent opportunities for the expression of artistic ability — making valentine and greeting cards. For example, encourage help with holiday decorations.
22. Encourage musical activity in the home or on family trips. Family songs are fun for everyone. Let you child make up songs. Let the child be a music maker as well as a listener. A toy piano, drum, tonette, tuned bells, or mouth organ can help teach the rudiments of rhythm and tone.
23. If your child plays an instrument, help budget practice time and make uninterrupted practice time available. Listen to those tunes the child thinks are good. Encourage your child to perform. Genuine praise does wonders.
24. Allow your child to observe forms of art in nature and his/her surroundings. Observation and experimentation opens up the doors to confidence. Be positive about the child's attempts and encourage development of interests. Help your child to really "see" the subtle variations in nature. Point out differences in intensity of colors.
25. To encourage creative writing jot down stories your child tells, songs "made up." Show them to the child later. Suggest they be illustrated and "published" for grandparents or other relatives at Christmas.
26. Be subtle in helping your child learn. Keep things light-hearted and fun, never grim or tense. Make learning fun, for both of you. And, remember, listen to your child. Don't stifle curiosity. Don't brush off questions, or after a while, you won't be asked.