The Benefits of Arts and Crafts (Yes, Both!) for Kids

It’s funny how we often debate things with a black/white, either/or paradigm.

Like whether preschool is for play or learning, for instance.

Or order vs chaos.  (Controlled chaos for me, please.)

Or a little bit country vs a little bit rock n roll.

 

Or arts and crafts.

 

Yes, for many in the early education/child development world, the debate about arts and crafts rages on, with nary a UN negotiator to step in and help.

Like most debates, however, camping out in either extreme generally misses the point.

There’s a spectrum of arts and crafts, not just and either/or proposition.  And there are plenty of benefits for kids to glean from activities both from the art AND the craft side.  The difference usually lies in whether or not we recognize which parts to emphasize.

With both arts and crafts, kids are usually building small motor skills as they grasp and manipulate tools and media and they often get some valuable sensory input as well.  But there are some important differences between an art-leaning project and a craft-leaning project, and those differences matter as you choose and implement your activity.  It doesn’t necessarily make one activity better than another — it simply makes it better for your purpose or situation. 

At the art end of the spectrum, activities generally emphasize process over product.  And that process is very child-driven; we provide materials and simply let the kids create and explore.  These types of projects encourage thinking outside of the box, creativity, and self-expression.  The process of creating can be soothing and even therapeutic.

Activities from the “Pure Art” end of the spectrum look something like this:

Turkey Baster Painting {No Time for Flash Cards}

Sensory Sand Finger Paint {The Artful Parent}

Baggie Painted Flowers {Toddler Approved!}

Painted Salt Sculptures {Fun at Home with Kids}

These activities are great for:

• Young kids who may not be capable of following craft directions.
• All kids (even big kids like you and me!) who have their own ideas to express.
• Blowing off steam.
• Independent, self-directed activity time.
• Anytime creativity-building.

While crafts are famous for ultimately resulting in a product, we can focus on the process as well.

Within the process of building a craft, we can give hands-on application to different concepts like patterning, shapes, and positional words (above, below, next to, etc.) as well as other new vocabulary words.  As long as we’re aware and intentional.

Would you rather learn about AB patterns by printing those letters over and over on a worksheet or by building a paper chain with AB color patterns?  Would you prefer to learn about halves and wholes by drawing lines through objects on a paper or by cutting shapes “in half”? Crafts can be the perfect way to get kids’ heads around a concept by getting their hands around it too!

Crafts also almost always reinforce the concept of following directions — if we let it.  Some teachers use a craft project to intentionally model and practice following step-by-step directions, not as a substitute for art.

We can also use craft activities to teach new techniques like accordion folding, hot glue gun wielding, and how to turn sheets of paper into paper chains.  Many kids will use these skills later as jumping off points, doing their own experimentation and finding their own creative applications.

And a focus on a craft, producing an end result, doesn’t mean that each project needs to turn out carbon copies of each other.  Even while focusing on following directions for a craft, there are often ways to make room for kids to use their own discretion and creativity within the various steps.  (“So now you do the petals.  Which color would you like?  What shape do you want to cut?” etc.)

Activities toward the craft end of the spectrum look more like this:

Letter Watermelons {No Time for Flash Cards}

Homemade Bubble Wands  {The Artful Parent}

Scarecrow Craft {Toddler Approved!}

Tissue Paper Heart Craft for Kids {Fun at Home with Kids}

And are good for:

• Kids who are capable of following the directions required by the craft. (More directions generally mean older kids or more help.)
• Kids who need to practice following directions.
• Structured time in the day when an adult is available to guide and help with directions.
• Hands-on application of new concepts.
• Teaching a new creative skill that the child can then use independently later.

Most often, there are projects that fall somewhere between the two ends of our either/or paradigm.  Each project opens up a different expectation for how much adult help or supervision is required, how much child-driven creativity is used, and how much emphasis is put on the process or the product.

Those are aspects to be aware of and determine if they’re appropriate for your individual application.  Not reasons to disregard an activity off-hand.  It doesn’t matter how free your art is or how cute your craft is— if you don’t know your “why” you’re missing the point either way.

While I’m always happy to make the case for the overlooked benefits of craft activities, it is important to emphasize that all kids need real art experiences.  All kids need the freedom to explore and express through creativity without any right or wrong end product in mind.  Creative, process-driven art is critical for healthy child development, but that doesn’t mean that occasional craft projects, particularly those done with intention, are detrimental to it.

Balance, friends.  It’s just about respecting the proper balance and intentionally meeting a child’s needs.

Read more about the Spectrum of Preschool Arts and Crafts.