Frequently asked questions about Educational Art:

What ages is Educational art good for?

The benefit of Educational art is that it is good for ALL ages. The fact that children don’t have to follow a prescribed model allows them to create at their own level and therefor a 3 year old and a 10 year old can be working on the same project.The projects will just look like a 3 year olds work VS.. a 10 year olds.

Isn’t traditional, copycat arts and crafts good for teaching a child direction following?

Learning to follow directions is a skill that children can learn through so many everyday activities. Firstly, that the directions the children may have to follow when doing traditional, copycat arts and crafts may be too difficult. Secondly, it is a pity to ruin the myriad skills they can gain when doing Educational art, at the expense of using art to teach them how to follow directions.

What about Fine Motor coordination?

Again, children do not need to do copycat art to develop fine motor coordination.,Anytime they use a scissors,  paint with a paintbrush or sew with a  needle they are developing their fine motor coordination.

If I don’t do ANY copycat arts and crafts and only believe in process only art why do I need to give my kids these educational arts and crafts projects?

The truth is you don’t. If your children are happy with doing process only art projects then let them continue doing so. I created the FREE report “Can Crafts Make my Kid Smart?” and “Learning Through Crafts” The Complete Multi Media Guide to Educational Arts and Crafts for Kids” for adults that  need projects and for kids that do want a bit more structure. This is a way to actually do projects but do them in a developmentally appropriate manner.

I’m a teacher and I find that all the parents only want beautiful crafts projects. How do I get them to enjoy the kids messy looking projects?

The trick is to educate the parents  In my Complete guide is a letter explaining to parents the benefits of Educational Art. You can also have  meetings with the parents to explain what the kids are gaining from Educational Art. They usually become your biggest advocates once they understand what going on.

I am trying to wean my children off of traditional arts and crafts but my children keep copying each others work which seems to dilute the whole purpose of Educational at.

You are right it does dilute it. The child that is copying is doing so because she or he does not have the confidence yet that she can create  art on her own that is good. A good thing to do would be to separate the kids that are copying when doing art. Or start the one copying off first and make sure to make alot of positive comments about her work (specifically commenting on what you see on the paper.. Ex “..Wow! you used so much red or so many straight lines”) Or give them different activities.

Where do activities like collage and painting fit into Education art.

Collage and painting are process only art activities which can be taken to level after level. I am in the process of creating  a new course that will give specific curriculums in collage, sculpting, painting & drawing to teach kids how to proceed to the next level. If you have opted in to get the Free report you will be on our list for notification.