How to arrange an art corner in the nursery

In the early days of your child’s development, it’s important to have an art corner in the nursery where they can play and experiment with different types of toys and games. This will help them get used to new things and make new connections in their development.

You need as early as possible to begin to engage in creativity with the child. And the earlier in the nursery, or even in the house will have a separate place where he can draw, sculpture, make, the better. For a preschooler to spend time in such activities – means to develop motor skills, get different sensory experiences, learn to perceive different colors, shades (that is already in a different way to see the outside world and respond to it). And then, creativity is always a contact with oneself, it is the ability to find out what you love and understand what you feel.

How to set up an artist’s corner?

Very often parents, when they hear me asking a child to draw and model at home, say, “But it’s dirty, horrible, he’ll get everything dirty!”

We need to think of a place that is comfortable for both the child and mom and dad:

• Allocate a space that could easily be covered with tape (and the floor, too) or old wallpaper, for example. It’s easier to cover than to wash and clean up every time.
• Keep all the materials for creativity separately in the closet, arranged in boxes – plastic transparent containers. Crayons here, crayons here, and felt-tip pens there. A separate box for natural materials: leaves, twigs, acorns, stones, cones. Cardboard, color paper, clay and plasticine – everything is in its place. By the way, even good materials for crafts are from the packaging – wrappers, ribbons, foil from under the chocolate, it’s also possible to collect in a separate box. If all this will just lie pile on the table, the felt-tip pens will quickly find themselves without caps, and parents will be outraged “what a mess?
• At the same time, the child should have some small set of materials available in case he or she just wants to draw or make something. Crayons, paper – something simple, with which you can work and not get dirty.

How do we plan to do creative work?

We should do it regularly, at least every weekend. The time should, of course, be convenient for both the family and the child: for example, 10-11 in the morning or after an afternoon nap so the artist won’t be hungry, sleepy, or tired.

How do you choose the themes? I would suggest different options.

You can base it on the time of year, holiday dates, and give a conditional assignment: “What did we see on a walk in winter?”, “Spring holidays.

It is possible to go from the material. For example, the adult prepares cones, twigs, plasticine – we make handicrafts, applications from plant materials.

How long the class depends on the age: if a child is 2-3 years old, an hour – it’s incredibly long, it’s enough and 15-20 minutes. For 6-7-year-olds, it’s 30-40 minutes. Some need two times for 15 minutes with a break: assiduity and ability to concentrate are different.

Parents often say, “I don’t have time, and he won’t do anything alone, we have to sit together. So, you do it this way: at first you and your child sit together for a while, showing how you can work with this or that material, and then you say, “You do it for now, and I’ll come back later. You gradually increase this time. In about two months, you get to the point where a high school-aged child is working alone, you just start and finish together. It’s a matter of practice.

How do you respond to the work?

The author has labored, and now he brings his masterpiece to his mom, waiting for her reaction. What to say?

• Don’t try to guess what’s drawn. Very often it’s hard to see the difference between a squirrel or, for example, a lynx in a drawing. And if we’re talking about very young children, it can be hard to see anything in particular.
• Avoid characterizations: “How beautiful!” or “I like it.” If mom answers “How beautiful it is!” to everything, the child may come to the conclusion that she doesn’t care. And he or she does not learn to analyze their work, ceases to understand the difference between bloopers and masterpieces (and children do have such things).
• Give a description: “I see you used bright, contrasting colors: green, black, red.” “Here you have strokes, and here I see circles, you used different lines,” “Tell me what you drew.” You have to encourage the child to tell a story. Another good question is, “Did you draw well? Are you happy with it?” And children, by the way, are often dissatisfied. Discuss, as with an artist, colors, lines, and creative solutions. Let him learn to assess himself, so that he is not dependent on the assessment of others.

Why make an exhibition?

In a child’s room, there must be a space for an exhibition of his work. Because pictures and crafts are his reflection, his self. An exhibition means: “this is my home,” “I live here,” “this is my space.” No need to decorate this room with purchased posters.

• Arrange the crafts: two shelves are enough.
• Drawings – hang up. Parents will not want to make extra holes in the walls for frames, but they are not needed. There are better options. You can make a mobile hanging: on two nails to fasten on the wall of a fishing line or twine with the usual clothespins. You can fasten (glue on a double-sided adhesive tape) to the shelves, to the chandelier (if the design allows), hang on clothespins on the usual ledge of fishing line or hang paintings on metal hangers with clothespins.

The exhibit can be changed: make room for a new one. You will quickly learn how to trim the obvious blotches from what you want to keep. Some valuable drawings will go to the family archive. Some works can be collected in an album. But there is another option: to use them as reuse material for creativity – to make from them colored collages, pasparto.

You can:

• cut up chaotically old drawings, add buttons, beads and make an original frame;
• make holiday cards by cutting out some details;
• glue boxes, caskets.