Guide for Children’s Activities - Playing and Creating
In order to cultivate your children's creativity and offer them many
opportunities to find enjoyment and happiness, it is important for them to be
physically and mentally active. Encourage children to participate in a broad
spectrum of activities. Sports, gymnastics, dancing, painting, drawing, playing
piano or other instruments, and pottery and other artistic classes are only a
few of the activities children can participate in. Encourage them to have a wide
variety of friends to broaden their social experience. Children are usually much
happier if they are busily involved with many activities and social experiences.
As children gain increasing fine-muscle control, they naturally become
interested in using crayons, pencils, pens, and paint brushes. You can guide
your children in how to hold these objects so they can draw or paint, or how
to make the appropriate lines or strokes when they learn to write. Leave the
creation of drawings and paintings to your child's imagination. If your child
requests help or asks you to make a drawing, there is no harm in complying,
but it is better not to interfere with what the child is creating. Let children
initiate and create their own style.
After your child finishes a drawing, discuss what it is that she has drawn and
what the drawing means. It is best for adults not to tell children what they
think a drawing represents. Rather, you should try to encourage them to offer
their own explanations.
The materials that your child uses for drawing, painting, or play should be
safe, nontoxic, and made of natural substances. Provide your children with
clay, paper, paints, and crayons to play with rather than plastic or synthetic
materials. Children can be encouraged to use crayons as they are safe. Pencils
and pens can be given to older children or to younger children if properly
supervised. Cutting out paper drawings with safe children's scissors is also a
very good activity. Try to encourage your children to play and develop their
creativity rather than pursue more passive activities like watching television.
Television has a strong influence on how children behave so when they do
watch it, make sure that the program is suitable.
Encourage your children to invent their own play and games. If your children
have too many toys, they may become frustrated and confused. They may not
play with their toys or may have difficulty deciding how to go about playing
with them. Having fewer toys can make things simpler for a child. When your
children are very young even when they start to crawl, let them help pick up
and put away their toys. If they are taught how to do this at an early age,
most children will develop orderly habits and will clean up after themselves
when they play. If children do not learn this when they are young. it may be
difficult for them to change later.