Importance of Arts and Craft in School Curriculum

Arts and crafts as a subject in the school curriculum are typically taken for granted as a must for children and young kids in the formal education setup. But, over the past several years, many schools have unfortunately cut down on arts in their school curriculum. Music, painting, theatre- they are fast disappearing.

There is no doubt that arts and crafts are fun activities for kids. Be it coloring with crayons or making miniature statues from clay, folding paper to create fine origami or designing a handmade birthday card, there are several arts and crafts activities, which can enhance the interest of the children and exploit their artistic potential.

By introducing arts and crafts to the kids and involving them in such activities in schools, you will invest in building their cognitive, physical, and social development. The following are the benefits of arts and crafts in school curriculum 

Physical Benefits

Development of fine motor skills
Since most arts and crafts activities consist of moving fingers and hands, they help in developing fine motor skills. Simple actions like holding a paintbrush and coloring with pencils help strengthen muscles and improve their control.

Enhances dexterity
Arts and crafts activities can enhance the children’s dexterity and agility. With the enhancement of fine motor skills and much practice, a child’s manual dexterity, artistic skills, and speed will also increase.

Improvement of hand-eye coordination
Engaging in activities related to arts and crafts from a very young age leads to a tremendous improvement in hand-eye coordination. This will help a child during later primary school years when she or he is spacing out words or forming letters.

Social Benefits

Learn to appreciate art and culture
Through arts and craft, children learn to value and appreciate artifacts and images across cultures and times. Experience in design, art, and crafts enable them to reflect critically on their own work and those by others. They learn to act and think like designers and artists, working intelligently and creatively. They also learn about the preservation of heritage through art. A lot of the information we have now about people that lived millions of years ago came solely from art.

Enhances self-expression
By engaging in creative pursuits of music and arts and crafts, children get the opportunity of expressing themselves in a positive, tangible and meaningful way. They also learn to create artwork on their own.

Helps in socializing
Participating, with other students in art class, gives children a chance to interact with others while sharing common interests. The process of arts and crafts also strengthens parent-child bonding.

Boosts confidence
Arts and craft activities help instil a sense of achievement and pride in children, boosting theirself-confidence.

Cognitive Benefits

Enhances creativity
The opportunity to create whatever a child desires helps foster creativity.

Sharpens skills of decision making
A child will learn to make correct and effective decisions by facing and solving artistic challenges. This helps to develop a problem-solving attitude, which in turn, will help them in the future.

Enhances memory and visual learning
A child learns about new colors and shapes through arts and crafts as well as gains familiarity with various figures and patterns. Activities like learning guitar, jewelry making, etc. need visualization and memorization of complex designs in mind.

Arts and crafts not only help in the above traits but also in boosting academic performance. Above all these are activities filled with lots of fun for children.