Importance Of Creative Art For Infants

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Importance Of Creative Art For Infants
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Its never too early to start

Process art has a set of gentle baby and art
interactions that encourages the natural
development of babies. These are not only
sensory, exploratory and fun activities but also
help develop both your babys physical and
cognitive skills. importance of creative art. To
start with, process art activities can be easily
adapted to create lots of opportunities for tummy
time painting as well, helping strengthen the
babys core muscles, and develop good neck
control. So get ready to dive into the world of
process art. Allow your baby to use her fingers
and hands to explore what happens when she does
things with paint, colour, and textures.
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Its never too early to start

Art helps your baby gets familiar with
multisensory activities which have been carefully
researched and shortlisted. These child-safe
ideas for your babys first art experience will
go a long way in further strengthening the bond
between parent and child. The importance of
creating art has been repeatedly confirmed by
studies the world over.
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Mirror play with your baby

Your baby is curious by nature and is naturally
attracted to human faces. So take advantage of a
mirror the simplest yet most enriching tool you
can use to play with your baby. Mirror play
develops and enhances her visual senses. If you
think otherwise, just recall how your baby spends
hours gazing at you lovingly with her big,
unblinking eyes! You are totally hypnotized and
cant help but hold her gaze. The mirror acts as
a happy distraction and is the easiest sensory
experience to set up as well. It is also a fun
exercise to do while on her tummy. Regular tummy
time helps develop strong back, neck, and
shoulder muscles, which will be needed when your
baby starts to roll over, sit up, crawl, and
eventually walk. It also helps develop her gross
motor skills.
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Mirror play with your baby

As soon as your baby starts to focus on objects,
begin to engage her in mirror play. During tummy
time, you can slide a small mirror under her as
motivation to push herself up to study her own
face. All babies come to love mirrors and looking
at themselves, it is a great way to make tummy
time more interesting and exciting for the baby.
A baby will be able to recognize herself in a
mirror when she is about nine months old. Just
place an acrylic mirror on a blanket spread out
on the floor and lay the baby so that she can see
her reflection in it. During bath time and when
in the tub, it will be a good idea to hold up a
mirror for your baby to look at. Take a minute or
two to point to your face and your beautiful
babys. Identify each other and name body parts
while pointing at them. And speak to her.
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What a way to play with water

Water play is the easiest and simplest sensory
experience to set up. Babies get to feel the
sensation of water on their skin warm or cold.
Pour some lukewarm water into a shallow tray, add
a little food colouring to it and let your baby
splash in it with her hands while still laying
down on her tummy. The fun gets a little wilder
when her older sibling joins the play, mistaking
it for a puddle, he might decide to literally
jump into the water, splashing water all over the
baby, the towel, and the floor. You might be left
with a lot of water to mop up. But it will be
great fun with all the giggles and screams of
joy.
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What a way to play with water

Water play brings out the inner scientist in
every child, this includes the baby too. Learning
through water play, little toddlers and young
children discover and begin to understand the
many properties of water. Whenever an older
sibling joins the water play in a tub, the fun
will be multiplied a hundredfold. Just by using
toys, they get to discover which objects will
sink and which ones will float. Find out what
happens when they open the shower tap fully, and
get to learn about water pressure and force.
Figure out what happens when they pour water from
a large container into a smaller one. By having
fun and splashing about in water, babies and
toddlers investigate these phenomena, as well as
learn about cause and effect.
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Block printing activity


The materials youd need for this activity are
some paper, some child-safe homemade paint,
masking tape, plastic blocks, small toys, a paper
plate, and of course, an eager baby. Secure the
paper your baby will print on, to a board or a
plastic sheet stuck on the floor. Use the masking
tape to stick the paper, otherwise, your baby
might reach out to grab it and start squeezing
the paper thinking that it is food. Spoon out
blobs of child-safe paint onto a plate, dip the
plastic block or a toy in the paint, and hand it
over to your baby. She might study the block for
a while, examining it closely for a long time.
While it will be tempting to show the baby what
to do by holding her hand and moving it, resist
this urge.
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Block printing activity


Just wait and watch. She may start by hitting the
paper with the block or just may want to move it
around in circles. Let her do what she wants as
this is a free exploration activity. Show her
what she can do on a separate paper by all means.
But allow her to explore her own motivation and
direct her own play. Keep conservation going all
the time. Talk to her about what she is doing,
tell her about colours, shapes and lines the
more you speak with her, the more new words she
will hear and perhaps even remember. Keep the
conversation going and keep it simple.
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Finger painting for babies


As babies do a lot of play on their tummies, you
can use this time to introduce playing with
colours. The best time to introduce finger
painting is when your baby is able to sit up on
her own. It is a good idea to find out if your
baby will enjoy sitting in her highchair and
exploring finger painting. A highchair will be
the ideal place to plonk a blob of child-safe
finger paint and watch your baby unfold the magic
of colours with her fingers. Its a great way for
your baby to learn and develop through sensory
play. And makes it easy to clean up afterwards.
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Finger painting for babies


Finger painting is also a lot of fun. Babies and
little children love having the chance to make a
supervised mess. The feeling of wet, squishy
paint on their fingers is also a relaxing
experience. Finger painting acts as a much-needed
vent for letting go of negative emotions like
anger and anxiety. Its worth remembering that
finger painting makes a wonderful fine motor
skills development activity, helping babies and
little children build up strength in their
fingers. Eventually, helping them to hold a
pencil correctly and learn to write.
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Playing with jelly when on the belly


Babies love to mouth everything they can lay
their little hands on. Jelly is the safest
sensory play accessory to have and you can build
upon the sensory experience it delivers. All you
need to create an exciting toy to play with is a
sturdy zip-lock plastic bag, and some cold jelly
from your fridge and combine it with those small
squeezy balls that bounce back into shape after
being squeezed. Your baby will enjoy and have a
great time squishing the cold jelly and moving
the squeezy balls between her hands and fingers.
The surprising part you will notice is this kind
of activity can keep a baby entertained for about
15 minutes, which is a pretty longish time for a
baby when she is just under 6 months old!
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Fun paper plate painting

Set this activity up on the floor. Set up two
paper plates, one for your baby and one for you.
On a third plate, pour out homemade, child-safe
paint and hand over a broad paintbrush to your
little toddler. Remember to cover the floor with
a plastic sheet or a discarded shower curtain
before you start. As this activity can encourage
your baby to try and move around and work on her
gross motor skills. She may swirl the colours
with the brush or mix up the paints on the plate.
She may even want to paint with the other end of
the paintbrush. It really does not matter, the
idea is the process and not the end result.
Homemade paints are easy to wash and wipe away
the stains, so keep a damp washcloth handy to
clear up the mess.
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Fun paper plate painting

Talking and interacting with your baby will help
her understand the physical and mental processes
she is going through and develop her vocabulary.
Continue the play with your baby once she has
explored on her own. You could show her different
painting techniques like making circles, dots,
stripes and squares with the paint. As your baby
gets older, you can extend this activity to
include focusing on patterning and colour mixing
by letting your child add paint to the plate
herself and use the mix in whichever way she
wants to. Always supervise, because babies and
small children need constant supervision.
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Painting with plastic balls

When your baby reaches toddler age, you could
involve her in a fun way to create art. Even
though you may not be an artistic person, your
toddler daughter will help develop the art muscle
which you always wanted but didnt know how. Here
is what you can do and it is so simple to set up.
Cut and paste a sheet of paper into a plastic
tray. Then ask your toddler to pick two or three
colours of her choice. Add the plastic balls to
the tray and roll them around by picking up the
tray and tilting it in different directions.
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Painting with plastic balls

Do this process art exercise with her. The
results of this activity are open-ended, but both
you and your toddler will get to experience
creating something beautiful. And this fun
project is so messy and active at the same
time! Repeat this activity as often as you like
because little children need repetition to learn
and understand. They gain new insights each time
they repeat the same activity. And always talk to
your child about what she is doing. See the blue
line you made!, Are you swirling the paint
around? What are the colours you used?
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Creating a keepsake

When your baby can stand up and move around on
her own, it is time to create a handprint
keepsake. A framed wall hanging of the palmprints
of your baby when she was a year and a half old.
Or handprints of your entire family will be a
wonderful keepsake. A family heirloom comes to
mind. Knead some dough using wheat flour and roll
it into a ball, press it down into a shape of
flatbread. Make it big enough for two palm
prints, enough to fit the left palm and the right
one side by side. Help your child to press one
hand firmly into the dough, repeat with the other
hand. Once you are happy with the handprints
leave the dough to dry out.
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Creating a keepsake

If humidity is high, you can dry the dough in an
oven set at 100 degrees for about 3 hours.
Remember to turn the dough over halfway through
that time. If you like to hang the handprint
instead of framing it, make a hole at the top
before you bake the dough. Once your handprints
dry out, use acrylic paint and paint the
handprint. Leave the choice of colour to your
daughter. She might choose a purple or a dark
pink. Either way, it will be a memento that will
last a very long time, perhaps even be handed
down from generation to generation!
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Make child-safe, taste-safe paint

For very young children or for anyone who is
likely to try a taste of the paints, its best to
use a child-safe recipe that uses only food items
as ingredients straight from your kitchen
cupboard. Using corn flour as a base for your
finger paint will be ideal because it is a simple
and easy-to-make. Measure out two cups of corn
flour around 250g. Place the corn flour in a
jug and add five cups of cold water. Mix together
until all the corn flour has completely
dissolved.
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Make child-safe, taste-safe paint

Pour this mixture into a saucepan and heat
gently, stirring all the time to ensure there are
no lumps. After a few minutes the base will begin
to thicken. Split this base out into three or
four bowls and add a few drops of different
colours to each and create several different
colours to paint with. If you feel the paint is
too thick, dilute it by adding a little extra
cold water. You are now ready for an
unforgettable sensory painting experience with
babies and toddlers using paint that is not only
child-safe but also taste-safe! You can use the
paints immediately or pour them into separate
bottles and store them for a week max, before the
paint goes bad.
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Make child-safe, taste-safe paint

Go eco-friendly, use fruit veggies Make child
safe and taste-friendly paint for babies. Instead
of using food colouring to make paint, swap it
with fruit and veggies which have strong colours
spinach, blackberries, dried apricot,
watermelon Here is how Stew each fruit or veggie
separately in a little water, purée with a hand
blender then pass it through a sieve. Leave it
overnight in a fridge. Stir before you use these
natural paints for great colours quickly. Or you
will have to trash the paint afterwards, as,
unlike food colouring, paint made from fruit and
veggies will go bad really fast.
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Conclusion


Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers
and young children to think differently, be
innovative, and explore new ways to learn about
interesting things found in the real world.
Changing the way a child discovers and imagines.
Igniting her mind to think, play and learn like
never before. If you like to enrol your child in
our creative art classes or find out more about
why creative art ideas for infants is important,
give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make
an appointment with the head of a centre near
you. Get hands-on exposure to an experience that
will make you see art in a way that adds value to
your childs life right from the time she is just
a baby!
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