Your Creative Artist

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Children naturally enjoy art - painting, sculpting, drawing, gluing, making music. Art introduces children to be able to work through emotions, experiment with different materials, represent their understanding of the world, and learn to think creatively. 

According to the Parents as Teachers National Center; process art focuses on actions, thinking, and individual expression, rather than on final projects. What your child learns about himself and the world through his experiments, is more valuable than the resulting piece of artwork. Start thinking about what your child can create with instead of what he will create. 

Fun, creative items to start collecting in your home are: 

A- art foam, aluminum foil, aquarium gravel

B- beans, buttons, bingo daubers, 

C- cardboard rolls and tubes, clothespins, corks, cotton balls, computer paper, cookie cutters

D- duct tape, dandelions, detergent jugs and caps

E- envelopes, electrical tape, egg cartons

F- feathers, flower pots, food containers, fabric, felt, folders

G- grocery bags, greeting cares, gallon milk jugs, glitter, glue

H- headbands with animal ears, hair clips, hats, hangers, handkerchiefs

I- ice cube tray, ice cream tub, index card, 

J- junk mail, jewelry, juice cans, jars, jellybeans,

K- kitchen utensils, kleenex, knobs, kite string, keys

L- leaves, lace, lids

M- magnets, magazines, macaroni, manila envelopes, milk cartons, music

N- noodles, nuts, newspaper, necklaces

O- ornaments, oatmeal boxes

P- pipe cleaners, paper plates and cups, popsicle sticks, pvc pipe scraps

Q- q-tips, queen's crowns

R- ribbon, rubberbands, rice, rubber gloves

S- stickers, shoe boxes, sponges, sheets, spice containers, sand, stensils, spray bottles

T- tissue paper, toothpicks, tempera paints, tennis ball containers

U- utensils 

V- velcro, vase, vines, velvet scraps

W- watercolor paints, wire, wallpaper scraps, wood, washers

X- x-rays 

Y- yarn, yardstick

Z- zippers, ziplock bags

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Have fun with these ideas and remember to encourage your child to wonder, experiment, and create! Make sure to display their artwork proudly in your home and feel free to share with us too!