My choice of art

BEST ART ACTIVITIES

A lot of people believed and proved that there is no perfect activity that suits every kind of learner and art activities are not excluded here. However, there are best art activities that we can facilitate to better improve children's development. Come on! Let's find out my top 3 best art activities. 

1. CRAYON ETCHING 

This activity is under the category of crayon which is one of the most well-known art material and most accesible for children. Etching is a good activity for children aged 4-6 mostly kinder to grade 1 pupil because it was a good source of basic art skills and entertainment for them. 

 

Materials:

* Paper, Light crayons, Black Crayon, Sharp tool. 

Procedure:

A. Using light. bright crayons put big patches of colors all over the paper. 

B. Using black crayon, color over all the bright colors. Color until the bright colors appear faintly through black or are completely covered.

C. With sharp tool. sketch picture directly Wer black. Scrape away with tool making thin. thick. wavy, etc. lines. Create many textures.

BENEFITS OF ETCHING

*Develops fine motor skill 

Through the use of crayons and a sharp tool, children learn proper movements of arms to create a design they want to make. Moreover, it improves a better grip on pens and pencils, which helps them to become a better typist as well as in different activities. 

*Encourage patience and relaxation 

Children will be given an opportunity to boost their patience and experience relaxation. 

*Helps with concentration

Over time your child’s concentration levels will expand.Concentration is required to focus on a single activity for a period, so etching can help to develop this further. 

*Encourage color recognition

The use of different colors when etching gives children the perfect opportunity to explore different color combinations, giving them the ability to see how they’re able to change the look of a picture. 

*Promotes creativity

The process of creating a crayon etching allows children to be creative in color and pattern creation. 

*Low cost materials

The materials for this activity are very common and at a cheap price. This activity is easy to administer since teachers and parents won't spend a lot of money do it. 

2. SOCK PUPPETS

Puppets change the entire classroom by creating more possibilities for creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and curiosity.  Sock puppets are considered to be a classic kind of puppet as it was a very famous way to create a puppet since 750BC when ancient Greeks invented it. This only proved that this kind of art is one of the best. 

These puppets are played using hands and lower arm where puppet's mouth being formed by the region between stock's heel and toe, and thumb acting a jaw. 

Materials:

* Old socks, 2 Wooden googly eyes, Yarn, Thread, 1 Big needle, 1 Small needle, Scissor. 

Procedure: 

A. Prepare all your materials. 

B. Get those googly eyes ready. Slips on the socks and places the eyes end fingers. The thumb is the chin in the heel. Sew the googly eyes with the black thread. 

C. Cut an arm's length of wool and carefully sew large loops behind the eyes. 

D. Knot the beginning and end together or cut open the loops and always tie in pairs.

BENEFITS OF MAKING SOCK PUPPETS

* Develops creativity

Children can enhance their creative thinking through building concepts on how to create their sock puppet and how it would work. 

* Opporunity to be innovative

As children are given a free way to create their own sock puppets, there are new ways and ideas that will be introduced which make them innovative. 

* Gives excitement 

It is important that learning comes in a safe and less threatening way. Creating a sock puppet gives children an excitement on how their puppets will look like as well as it will encourage them to participate in class. 

* Low cost materials

This puppet can be made just by using recycled materials. Some old socks and even unused botton can be used as the eye of the puppet. Yarn are not expensive too as well as needle and thread. Children can enjoy this activity without spending a lot of money. 

Sock puppet is a kind of hand puppet wherein it is better than finger puppets which can only do minimal movements. Unlike sock puppets, children can control the movement of the mouth and able to show emotions too. 

3. Applique 

Learning arts and crafts such as stitching at an early age helps in the development of cognitive skills. Stitching is a life skill where both hemispheres of the brain at work at the same time.

Applique is an example of stitching activity, where ornamental needlework in which pieces of fabric are sewn or stuck onto a large piece of fabric to form pictures or patterns. 

Materials:

*Burlap, Cloth, Needle, Thread, Hard glue, Paper, Marking tool, Scissor. 

Procedure:

A. Draw a picture of your design on paper, then cut it. 

B. Trace the design onto a cloth, then cut out each piece of the paper design. 

C. Glue, pin or staple the cutted cloth in your burlap. 

D. Start stitching! 

BENEFITS OF APPLIQUE MAKING

* Improve motor skill

Administering applique activity can help children to develop their fine motor skills. The stitching process involved here are small movements using the hands, such as threading a needle, knotting the thread, cutting the pattern, or tracing a pattern. These movements contribute to the improvement of hand-eye coordination at an early age.

* Develops cognitive skill

The process of creating applique involves not only artistic skills but also mathematical skills. Measuring the fabric’s size to use, the length of thread needed, or the sizes and shapes that need to be cut are examples of learning the basic mathematic skills through making an applique.

* Learn patience

Patience is something that children have less of these days. Everything appears to be done too fast. Creating an applique is one of those activity which needs quite persistence. Therefore, by learning how to create it, children will learn how to be patient.

* Boost confidence

Children like to seek praise and recognition, so learning a new skill such as making an applique and eventually getting better at it is a big boost on self-confidence. For a young child, every little step that is accomplished is already a big thing. 

* Improve creativity

Children usually have minds that explore more than adults and have brilliant imaginations. Introducing them to applique making can give them an enjoyable and exciting medium to show their creativity. 

* Build sense of fashion. 

Through making an applique, children will learn to make various designs which they can patch on their clothes, pants, bags and other things to enhance their fashion. 

* Source of income

Patching is a skill that a children can learn in making an applique whereas it is a life skill that not everyone knows. They can offer this skill to those people who wants to patch a design in their things. Moreover, their design of appliques can be sold too. 

To sum up, these are the best art activities because they are good spring of skills and they can gain beautiful experience that they won't forget.