Do you know the amount of time that kids spend in front of a screen for daily recreation? According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, it’s between 4–6 hours each day! Choosing kid-centered art-at-home projects is a great screen-free way to decrease those hours and spark a child’s creativity and imagination. These projects are also a boost to the social and emotional wellbeing of the children and the family overall.
Art-at-Home Provides a Screen-Free Way to Boost Imagination
Many families report family time as an important interlude they look forward to both daily and weekly, but in today’s tech-saturated world, that time is still often screen-centered. It’s refreshing to realize that there are many screen-free easy art projects families can enjoy together. A few ideas are listed below.
- Coloring books
- Printmaking
- Make kinetic sand
- Make “sculptures” with colored modeling clay
- Take photos for a family memory book
These are all simple ideas that lead to great fun as they introduce children to different media like crayons, paint, clay, pastels, printmaking and photography. These components will expand their awareness of what makes up the world of art. Letting kids choose a medium to work in as they become more familiar with various possibilities gives them the opportunity to express themselves freely. Essentially, sometimes art will give children a way to speak without having to say a word.
When children feel free to express themselves, their creativity increases. They can literally imagine what they want to make. Trying to determine how to bring their ideas to life teaches them to think critically, and to figure out how to organize their actions to arrive at the results they want. This is important as art, just like life, doesn’t always go the way we’ve laid it out.
When children encounter challenges in their projects, they can learn how to approach things differently to correct what’s happened, or learn to pivot to incorporate what they may have initially considered a mistake. Kids need art because it teaches them to experiment and explore, and that it’s OK to start over when things aren’t going as planned.
Art is a great screen-free way for families to bond and actively communicate. While some parents may be hesitant because they feel they are not really “artistic,” there’s no need to worry! Children will follow your example, and when you model having fun, they’ll have fun too. And inspiration and instruction are easily findable—you can get ideas and instructions online and print off a how-to in advance to keep your family time screen-free.
Doing art at home together as a family is a fun way to connect, to learn, and take stress away from everyone. There’s no need to strive for idealized perfection, as the point here is to encourage imagination and creative thinking. You’ll have fun creating and growing together.
Get Ideas and Free Kids’ Art Lessons Online
We’re here to help with art-at-home ideas and projects—check out the Golden Road Arts library of free art lessons for elementary and junior high kids online. To support our efforts to reach more children and families, consider making a donation.
