Art Fun and Prewriting skills for Little hands – Agewise

Art is a wonderful way to have fun, it is also a wonderful way to prepare little hands for prewriting skills.

For writing skill to be developed the child should develop pincer grip,the art of picking up an item with your thumb and index finger

Toddlers: 1- 2 yrs

My first crayola:12 months.
I allowed my baby to scribble everyday with these.He was fascinated by the colors inking his sheet.At first he used to dot them a lot.

Jumbo crayons: 18 months.
As he moved to scribbling across sheet.We got him the jumbos.The jumbos are so reliable and unbreakable.They survived the poking and the dropping.

Triangular crayons: 24 months
These are my absolute favorite they are great for teaching pencil grip.The way they are designed helps children learn them spontaneously

Pompom Fun :
Is also another fun activity you can use to develop the pincer grip for younger children.

http://godlyindianmom.com/2014/04/pom-pom-fun-toddler-busy-bag.html/

Other Art ideas:
Stamping:
You can use stamp pads or even paint.
You can find how to make homemade stamps in the link below.

http://godlyindianmom.com/2014/07/homemade-stamps-toddler-busy-bag.html/

Preschool: 2 to 3 years olds

Magic Pads:
I got these for Dash during the summer holidays.He was absolutely in awe of shading them.Be sure to buy good quality ones if you buy the cheaper ones they are hard even for the adults to shade.We loved magic pad by janico publishers

Magic paints:
All these books require, are a brush and water.They are great in teaching children the pencil grip.They enchant the child as the colors appear.

Finger painting:
A good summer investment for Dash.There are many finger painting kits available in the market these days.Ours was from toy craft.They come with 15 or so printed pictures.

Pre Kindergarten -1: 3 to 4 years old

One of the best ideas that was ever suggested was by my cousin,she asked me to give my child a notebook and a pencil,as we have lots old diaries i handed him one.Initially it was all scribbles.But in a few months I started seeing his drawings become refined and identifiable.

Color by number:There are tons of printables online.I help my son with this activity.Its a great way to start children with number and color association.This activity helps in listening to directives and working.

Q tip Dot paint: This activity requires q tips(johnson&johnson earbuds),paper and paint.The child dots the paint on the line of the image or drawing.I usually freehand my drawing,you can also print based on your child’s interest.In a few months Dash turned pro and used to do a clean job all by himself.
This also helped him a lot with fine finger skills and writing.

Quilt patterning:
A fun sequencing activity.Cut out shapes and ask the child to stick in a pattern.You can start with 2 colors of squares.

Dot to Dot coloring books:
This is now Dash’s favorite activity.He does 3 to 4 pages per day.Its also a wonderful way to teach counting in sequence