The Quilts Zone Blog

In our preliminary stage of studying, each and everyone of us is taught to make use of logic and think a certain way. Keep in mind whenever you had to begin over for painting the sun blue, or the ocean black? Yea, that’s what we’re getting at. 

I mean it is no various from how you learn at home.  Have your parents told you that you are able to be anything you want to? Are you an astronaut or anything you wanted to be? 

We all know that kid whose parents are considered crazy.  The parents who have supported and pushed their kid to be the greatest they can be.  How do you see them?  You see them as crazy for forcing their children to be amazing and not settling for what they’re.  These parents are going to kill themselves attempting to make Billy the very best pianist in the world.  Seriously, Billy isn’t even good.   

Everyone at stage 1 is taught to act and believe in a very similar way.  There is seriously no enjoyable and creativity in that.   

Billy’s parents really have it right; you shouldn’t push your kids if that’s not what they want.  However, they’re instilling success and a drive to succeed in Billy.  Billy is starting to understand that no matter what he is up against if he works tough enough he will be pleased and accomplish success on some level.    

Work at what you would like, succeed via effort, and accomplish your dreams. 

This is an essential virtue to teach your kids, because they will correlate creativity, drive, and tough work with success.   

The Beginning
A easy method to encourage and instill this type of thinking for your children is to make a room that is specific to them and their creativity.   

This room requirements to be extremely homey in order to help evoke creative thought processes.  The very first rule of the room should be, no rules.   

As a parent it appears like we invest all our time making rules to keep our children safe.  However this room must be like a prison for their creativity, a place to explore with no rules.   

The method to develop this room would be to really develop it.  Sheds are cost-effective and fantastic ways to create a small-scaled room for any of your requirements.  Also, this shed is detached from your house so there’s little to no worrying about them destroying the home!  Develop this creative room from shed plans 8×12 or 10×12 shed plans.

This is the best method to start teaching your children the proper way and also the only way to do it so inexpensively.  In fact, there are a variety of safe and reliable shed plans to decide upon. Start your project with a  free storage shed plans planning guide.

If you are reading this article, chances are you have a creative soul and love to let your immagination soar - because - why else would you be visiting a site aimed at crafts, hobbies and other such creative pursuits? You may well be  talented and artistic - but have your children inherited your creativeness and resourcefullness? And if they haven't - are there ways you can stimulate this part of their lives? Here are a few tips as to what you can do…

Encourage creativity in your children by providing them with the time, resurces and the space for making art.Set aside some interruption-free quality time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Make sure you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are ‘caught’ – because  nothing squishes creativity more so than a parent saying “Don’t make a mess” every 2 minutes.

Choose the right drawing materials too as this is very  important. Many craft materials can be improvised, think of decorated kitchen roll tubes and potatoes as stamps, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Ensure that you check safety information and always follow instructions. During any ‘art-time’ children should always be surpervised because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.

Surroundings: As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. With young children, a child-size table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. A coffee table and an inexpensive plastic chair work well. A small kitchen storage trolley is a perfect solution for containing supplies, or if space does not allow, a portable fishing tackle or tool box is a good option too. Messy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!

Art Materials: Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore  a waste of money. Provide many sheets of blank paper to inspire their crativity and occasionally invest in a canvas so that your child can paint something and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall!Also provide coloring books or coloring pages – of which you’ll find plenty online. Granted – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need to simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw. 

For example little girls may enjoy coloring images of Barbie and at sites like Barbie Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Barbie colouring pages

When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of your child’s life provide….

Toddlers

• Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
• Chalk boards and safe chalk
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Juniors

• Sketchbook
• Student colored pencils
• Washable Markers
• Oil pastels
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Middle School

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Graphite Pencils
• Watercolor sketch paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Marker pens, marker paper
• Plain paper and coloring pages

High School

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Quality drawing papers and boards
• Graphite Pencils
• Artists’ quality colored pencils
• Illustration markers, marker paper
• Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
• Plain paper and canvases to work on

All ages

• Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
• A  folder for storing large pieces
• Storage boxes for smaller pieces
• Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.

To the casual observer a child who is drawing or coloring in,  is merely scribbling. The marks seem to be haphazard, almost meaningless. But there is much more happening in your young child’s mind as s/he engages in the physical act of drawing and coloring.

In fact, examining children’s drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional and cognitive development of the young child. From toddlerhood through primary school, children choose to draw and color, but the process starts much earlier – during toddlerhood.

At around the age of a year and a half toddlers become interested in scribbling. It appears to provide sensory enjoyment, but the child is also interested in the marks that are made. The act of doodling or scribbling can serve several useful purposes for the young child. Small muscle coordination and control improve with practice, cognitive abilities are exercised, opportunities for social interaction arise, and the physical movements provide emotional release.

Because a toddler’s fine muscle control is not fully developed, he may approach the coloring sheet by grasping the marker with his or her fist and may have difficulty placing the marks exactly where he or she wants them. Movements are typically large, involving the whole arm and sometimes the upper boyd with very little finger or wrist control. This is because the process of physical development always begins from the center of the trunk outward.

While full control will happen much later – in the short term the toddler will naturally improve his or her control. A few toddlers rest the forearm on the drawing surface to give them additional control. A rhythmic, repetitive, scrubbing motion is common among two-year-olds, providing sensory enjoyment and making drawing a very physical act.

By providing children with the materials and opportunities to scribble we can promote physical skills. Just as babbling is a natural way to gain language, scribbling is a natural gateway to muscle control and coordination.

Form an intellectual point of view young toddlers care about both the process and results of their art. They really do not intend to represent objects at first. Instead, they are mainly concerned with color and line. However, they may actually look at the scribbles they have made and, in surprise, recognize a shape and name it. While they may not have intended to draw a car, a house or a tree, the scribbles suggest the shapes. Children interpret, rather than intend. In child development circles this is referred to as fortuitous realism and becomes common as a child approaches three years of age.

As a parent you can encourage your child to draw and color by offering him or her opportunities to do so. Provide them with blank sheets of paper to let their creativity run wild or supply a coloring book or coloring sheets – many of which are available free of charge online. Little boys may enjoy coloring images of  cars and trucks or of favorite characters such as Spiderman and at sites like Spiderman Coloring you’ll find Spiderman kids as well as coloring pages, funny pics and more. For little girls search for coloring pages of princesses or fairies or anything else she may be interested in such as Disney characters or even trucks!

Remember to always supervise toddlers while they draw and color – due to the choking hazard that crayons pose.

Letters are the building blocks towards a lifetime of reading, writing and learning and should not be taught solely with paper pencil worksheets. Instead, parents can plan entertaining yet educational activities their child will enjoy taking part in. There is no better way to help kids learn the letters of the alphabet than by making the learning fun.

Any alphabet learning activity you begin with your child should last only five to ten minutes per day depending on your child. As a parent, you already know the length of your child’s attention span and can time each activity accordingly. Also, plan only one activity per session introducing five letters at a time. Learning the alphabet in no particular order is difficult for children, howevert is a key skill needed for their success as readers. Keeping activities short and engaging will make all the difference to children as they begin to learn the basics of reading.

Here are some ideas for you to try at home.

Letter of the day

Nominate a letter of the day – for example the letter S – and plan a couple of activities around that. For example, print and color coloring sheets of a favourite character such as Spongebob Squarepants whose initials are SS and at sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Spongebob colouring. Also, why not eat food beginning with S such as sausages or sweetcorn? And do some of the other activities mentioned in this article involving the letter S.

Bath time foam letters

Parents can purchase a bucket of foam letters from any dollar store. These letters are fabulous fun for a young learner in the bathtub. Parents can place letters on the side of the bathtub, spell our words and review letters.

Shaving cream letters

Parents take a cookie sheet or spray shaving cream directly on your kitchen table. Ask your child to smooth out the cream to form a square. Hold your child’s index finger and assist him with forming a letter. Then ask your child to wipe the letter away and start again.

Letter art

Using bingo dabbers or finger paints have your child create one large uppercase letter filling the entire space of an A4 piece of paper. Create each letter in alphabetical order and decorate the child’s bedroom or playroom with these letters. The art your child creates will mean so much more to him than any store bought alphabet poster.

Magnetic letters

Place five magnet letters on a cookie sheet and tell your child the letter you would like for her to find. Be sure to alternate turns when your child has mastered all letters.

Rice printing

Spread out a thin layer of uncooked rice on a cookie sheet. Choose a letter with your child and ask him to draw it in the rice. Repeat this with other letters. This will give a child who enjoys sensory learning another way to internalize letters.