Importance Of Creative Art For Infants

It’s never too early to start

Process art has a set of gentle baby and art interactions that
encourages the natural development of babies. These are not only
sensory, exploratory and fun activities but also help develop both your
baby’s physical and cognitive skills. importance of creative art.

To start with, process art activities can be easily adapted to create lots
of opportunities for tummy time painting as well, helping strengthen
the baby’s core muscles, and develop good neck control. So get ready
to dive into the world of process art. Allow your baby to use her
fingers and hands to explore what happens when she does things with
paint, colour, and textures.
It’s never too early to start
Art helps your baby gets familiar with multisensory activities which
have been carefully researched and shortlisted. These child-safe ideas
for your baby’s first art experience will go a long way in further
strengthening the bond between parent and child. The importance of
creating art has been repeatedly confirmed by studies the world over.
Mirror play with your baby
Your baby is curious by nature and is naturally attracted to human
faces. So take advantage of a mirror — the simplest yet most enriching
tool you can use to play with your baby. Mirror play develops and
enhances her visual senses. If you think otherwise, just recall how your
baby spends hours gazing at you lovingly with her big, unblinking eyes!
You are totally hypnotized and can’t help but hold her gaze.

The mirror acts as a happy distraction and is the easiest sensory

experience to set up as well. It is also a fun exercise to do while on her
tummy. Regular tummy time helps develop strong back, neck, and
shoulder muscles, which will be needed when your baby starts to roll
over, sit up, crawl, and eventually walk. It also helps develop her gross
motor skills.
Mirror play with your baby
As soon as your baby starts to focus on objects, begin to engage her in
mirror play. During tummy time, you can slide a small mirror under her as
motivation to push herself up to study her own face.

All babies come to love mirrors and looking at themselves, it is a great way
to make tummy time more interesting and exciting for the baby. A baby will
be able to recognize herself in a mirror when she is about nine months old.
Just place an acrylic mirror on a blanket spread out on the floor and lay the
baby so that she can see her reflection in it.

During bath time and when in the tub, it will be a good idea to hold up a
mirror for your baby to look at. Take a minute or two to point to your face
and your beautiful baby’s. Identify each other and name body parts while
pointing at them. And speak to her.
What a way to play with water

Water play is the easiest and simplest sensory experience to set up.
Babies get to feel the sensation of water on their skin – warm or
cold. Pour some lukewarm water into a shallow tray, add a little
food colouring to it and let your baby splash in it with her hands
while still laying down on her tummy.

The fun gets a little wilder when her older sibling joins the play,
mistaking it for a puddle, he might decide to literally jump into the
water, splashing water all over the baby, the towel, and the floor.
You might be left with a lot of water to mop up. But it will be great
fun with all the giggles and screams of joy.
What a way to play with water

Water play brings out the inner scientist in every child, this includes the
baby too. Learning through water play, little toddlers and young children
discover and begin to understand the many properties of water.

Whenever an older sibling joins the water play in a tub, the fun will be
multiplied a hundredfold. Just by using toys, they get to discover which
objects will sink and which ones will float. Find out what happens when
they open the shower tap fully, and get to learn about water pressure and
force. Figure out what happens when they pour water from a large
container into a smaller one. By having fun and splashing about in water,
babies and toddlers investigate these phenomena, as well as learn about
cause and effect.
 Block printing activity

The materials you’d need for this activity are some paper, some child-safe
homemade paint, masking tape, plastic blocks, small toys, a paper plate, and of
course, an eager baby.

Secure the paper your baby will print on, to a board or a plastic sheet stuck on
the floor. Use the masking tape to stick the paper, otherwise, your baby might
reach out to grab it and start squeezing the paper thinking that it is food.

Spoon out blobs of child-safe paint onto a plate, dip the plastic block or a toy in
the paint, and hand it over to your baby. She might study the block for a while,
examining it closely for a long time. While it will be tempting to show the baby
what to do by holding her hand and moving it, resist this urge.
 Block printing activity

Just wait and watch. She may start by hitting the paper with the block or just
may want to move it around in circles. Let her do what she wants as this is a free
exploration activity. Show her what she can do on a separate paper by all means.
But allow her to explore her own motivation and direct her own play.

Keep conservation going all the time. Talk to her about what she is doing, tell her
about colours, shapes and lines… the more you speak with her, the more new
words she will hear and perhaps even remember. Keep the conversation going
and keep it simple.
 Finger painting for babies

As babies do a lot of play on their tummies, you can use this time to introduce
playing with colours. The best time to introduce finger painting is when your
baby is able to sit up on her own. It is a good idea to find out if your baby will
enjoy sitting in her highchair and exploring finger painting.

A highchair will be the ideal place to plonk a blob of child-safe finger paint and
watch your baby unfold the magic of colours with her fingers. It’s a great way for
your baby to learn and develop through sensory play. And makes it easy to clean
up afterwards.
 Finger painting for babies

Finger painting is also a lot of fun. Babies and little children love having the
chance to make a supervised mess. The feeling of wet, squishy paint on their
fingers is also a relaxing experience. Finger painting acts as a much-needed vent
for letting go of negative emotions like anger and anxiety.

It’s worth remembering that finger painting makes a wonderful fine motor skills
development activity, helping babies and little children build up strength in their
fingers. Eventually, helping them to hold a pencil correctly and learn to write.
 Playing with jelly when on the belly

Babies love to mouth everything they can lay their little hands on. Jelly is the
safest sensory play accessory to have and you can build upon the sensory
experience it delivers.

All you need to create an exciting toy to play with is a sturdy zip-lock plastic bag,
and some cold jelly from your fridge and combine it with those small squeezy
balls that bounce back into shape after being squeezed.
Your baby will enjoy and have a great time squishing the cold jelly and moving
the squeezy balls between her hands and fingers. The surprising part you will
notice is this kind of activity can keep a baby entertained for about 15 minutes,
which is a pretty longish time for a baby when she is just under 6 months old!
Fun paper plate painting

Set this activity up on the floor. Set up two paper plates, one for your baby and
one for you. On a third plate, pour out homemade, child-safe paint and hand
over a broad paintbrush to your little toddler. Remember to cover the floor
with a plastic sheet or a discarded shower curtain before you start. As this
activity can encourage your baby to try and move around and work on her
gross motor skills.

She may swirl the colours with the brush or mix up the paints on the plate. She
may even want to paint with the other end of the paintbrush. It really does not
matter, the idea is the process and not the end result. Homemade paints are
easy to wash and wipe away the stains, so keep a damp washcloth handy to
clear up the mess.
Fun paper plate painting

Talking and interacting with your baby will help her understand the physical
and mental processes she is going through and develop her vocabulary.
Continue the play with your baby once she has explored on her own. You could
show her different painting techniques like making circles, dots, stripes and
squares with the paint.

As your baby gets older, you can extend this activity to include focusing on
patterning and colour mixing by letting your child add paint to the plate herself
and use the mix in whichever way she wants to.

Always supervise, because babies and small children need constant supervision.
Painting with plastic balls

When your baby reaches toddler age, you could involve her in a fun way to
create art. Even though you may not be an artistic person, your toddler
daughter will help develop the art muscle which you always wanted but didn’t
know how.

Here is what you can do and it is so simple to set up. Cut and paste a sheet of
paper into a plastic tray. Then ask your toddler to pick two or three colours of
her choice. Add the plastic balls to the tray and roll them around by picking up
the tray and tilting it in different directions.
Painting with plastic balls

Do this process art exercise with her. The results of this activity are open-
ended, but both you and your toddler will get to experience creating something
beautiful. And this fun project is so messy and active at the same time!

Repeat this activity as often as you like because little children need repetition
to learn and understand. They gain new insights each time they repeat the
same activity. And always talk to your child about what she is doing. “See the
blue line you made!”, “Are you swirling the paint around? ” “What are the
colours you used”?
 Creating a keepsake

When your baby can stand up and move around on her own, it is time to
create a handprint keepsake. A framed wall hanging of the palmprints of your
baby when she was a year and a half old. Or handprints of your entire family
will be a wonderful keepsake. A family heirloom comes to mind.

Knead some dough using wheat flour and roll it into a ball, press it down into
a shape of flatbread. Make it big enough for two palm prints, enough to fit
the left palm and the right one side by side. Help your child to press one hand
firmly into the dough, repeat with the other hand. Once you are happy with
the handprints leave the dough to dry out.
 Creating a keepsake

If humidity is high, you can dry the dough in an oven set at 100 degrees for
about 3 hours. Remember to turn the dough over halfway through that time.
If you like to hang the handprint instead of framing it, make a hole at the top
before you bake the dough.

Once your handprints dry out, use acrylic paint and paint the handprint.
Leave the choice of colour to your daughter. She might choose a purple or a
dark pink. Either way, it will be a memento that will last a very long time,
perhaps even be handed down from generation to generation!
 Make child-safe, taste-safe paint

For very young children or for anyone who is likely to try a taste of the paints,
it’s best to use a child-safe recipe that uses only food items as ingredients
straight from your kitchen cupboard.

Using corn flour as a base for your finger paint will be ideal because it is a
simple and easy-to-make. Measure out two cups of corn flour – around 250g.
Place the corn flour in a jug and add five cups of cold water. Mix together
until all the corn flour has completely dissolved.
 Make child-safe, taste-safe paint

Pour this mixture into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring all the time to
ensure there are no lumps. After a few minutes the base will begin to thicken.
Split this base out into three or four bowls and add a few drops of different
colours to each and create several different colours to paint with.

If you feel the paint is too thick, dilute it by adding a little extra cold water.
You are now ready for an unforgettable sensory painting experience with
babies and toddlers using paint that is not only child-safe but also taste-safe!

You can use the paints immediately or pour them into separate bottles and
store them for a week max, before the paint goes bad.
 Make child-safe, taste-safe paint

Go eco-friendly, use fruit & veggies

Make child safe and taste-friendly paint for babies. Instead of using food
colouring to make paint, swap it with fruit and veggies which have strong
colours — spinach, blackberries, dried apricot, watermelon…

Here is how
Stew each fruit or veggie separately in a little water, purée with a hand
blender then pass it through a sieve. Leave it overnight in a fridge.

Stir before you use these natural paints for great colours quickly. Or you will
have to trash the paint afterwards, as, unlike food colouring, paint made from
fruit and veggies will go bad really fast.
Conclusion

Process Art learning experiences inspire toddlers and young children to

think differently, be innovative, and explore new ways to learn about
interesting things found in the real world. Changing the way a child
discovers and imagines. Igniting her mind to think, play and learn like
never before.

If you like to enrol your child in our creative art classes or find out more
about why creative art ideas for infants is important, give Abrakadoodle a
call. Or better still, make an appointment with the head of a centre near
you. Get hands-on exposure to an experience that will make you see art in
a way that adds value to your child’s life right from the time she is just a
baby!

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