Kids & Art: Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Have you considered engaging them in an artistic pursuit?

Making time to 'do art' is both rewarding and calming. 

I have parents ask me if two hours is too long for their children to sit in one of my art classes, and my answer is always an emphatic "No!". It's not just me, the teacher,  who feels like this; invariably the kids will say at the end of the class,"Is it really time to go? That went really fast!"

Why do kids  who find it hard to sit still for 5 minutes find it easy to 'do art' for two hours and say the time seems to fly? The answer is because of what part of their brain they are exercising.

Two ways of seeing and knowing:

"You have two brains: a left and a right. Modern brain scientists now know that your left brain is your verbal and rational brain; it thinks serially and reduces its thoughts to numbers, letters and words… Your right brain is your nonverbal and intuitive brain; it thinks in patterns, or pictures, composed of ‘whole things,’ and does not comprehend reductions, either numbers, letters, or words."

From The Fabric of Mind, by the eminent scientist and neurosurgeon, Richard Bergland. Viking Penguin, Inc., New York 1985. pg.1

Most activities require both modes, each contributing its special functions, but a few activities require mainly one mode, without interference from the other. Drawing is one of these activities. When learning to draw we are, in fact, learning to make a mental shift from the left brain to the right brain mode. When we are in that mode, time flies and we become very focused, relaxed, even engrossed in what we are doing. Hence- two hours can seem like 5 minutes!

So, next time you are wondering how to calm and focus your child and help increase their concentration, why not consider helping them pursue drawing?