Children's Artwork

Sunday, my granddaughter (17 mos) and my adult son (her uncle) were playing together.  She started to get over-excited and was losing her ability to manage her feelings and her body so he reverted to one of his favorite things to do when he needed to calm down and that was to sit with her and draw.  He taped her paper to the table to make the activity stress free for her and then sat with her and drew as she made her own beautiful picture (above).  They sat for about 5 minutes before she was done with the activity.  We got her down so she could continue playing.  She was more relaxed, calm and was better able to manage her emotions.  Art is a great way to give children the opportunity to calm their bodies and use their creative imagination; when it is child initiated and they are given the opportunity to choose the medium, explore methods of application, and to determine when they are finished.  In my example above we set the stage for my granddaughter by taping the paper to the table, gave her choices about whether to use crayons, colored pencils, or regular pencils; let her explore the tools (tasting, holding, tapping, etc.) and allowed her to decide when she was finished (through reading her body signals, facial expressions, and use of tools).  My son also enjoyed the experience (his picture is to the right) and he was more calm and relaxed when they resumed playing together as well.