How to Teach Children to Express Themselves with Art

Teaching children to express themselves with their art is one of the best gifts you can give a child. The freedom to let loose their feelings and emotions through art can be one of the best ways to have an outlet for aggression, anger, sadness and depression. This technique can be done in the home or at school.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Art supplies

1. Give the child a wide range of art supplies. Try to include paints, markers, crayons, pencils, paper, scissors and pens. You never know what kind of inspiration the she may have and you want to be ready for it.

2. Tell him to think about how he feels and to try to show that on paper.

3. Step back. Don't comment on what the child should do. Don't give her guidance. Don't correct. This could be the hardest part because, as an adult, you think it is your duty to guide a child. In this exercise, though, it is just your duty to supply the tools and let the child find the way on his own.

4. Know that at the end of the process, you may be surprised at what the child comes up with. When left to their own devices, children pull from a vast well of emotion for their creative artworks.

5. Give a lot of positive praise. This will boost a child's confidence to continue to show emotion in their artwork.

Tips & Warnings

• It is important not to correct the child on technical aspects because this was about emotion, not technique. A correction may make a child close down their emotions in the future to produce a "perfect" picture.