Crafting is a brilliant way to help your preschooler learn and grow.
Here are a few benefits:
Crafting helps develop fine motor skills. The act of clutching a crayon or paint brush develops the muscles that will later help preschoolers button their coat, tie their shoes, and start writing.
As my brief stint as a TA in a reception class, a lot of the kids were encouraged to use their hands to help develop muscles so that they could being to hold a pencil ready to write. We used all sorts of tricks but I have to say, Playdoh was my fave!
It helps with identifying patterns, numbers and counting.
Something as simple as stringing beads on to some elastic is a great way to learn patterns whilst pmcounting without them even realising. It might seem crazy to think about your 4 year old getting to the point they are learning algebra or fractions but that time will come, and a good, early foundation will help no end!
They learn colours and shapes
This one speaks for itself but it will definitely help when they finally get to school and already know their shapes and colours.
And finally - my favourite thing - it encourages creativity, free thinking and mindfulness all at once.
Have you noticed how children can be completely immersed in what they are doing? They seem to be better than adults at living in the present moment... and as we all know, the earlier they learn this skill, the better they will fare as they get older. Having an outlet to express themselves, embracing the courage to let themselves get creative is something we need to encourage as much as we possibly can for as long as we possibly can.
Not feeling too creative yourself? Rather not be scrubbing glitter off the kitchen floor every ten minutes? Book them into our dedicated preschoolers session: Dixie Tots. We do 1 longer or 2 shorter crafts, followed with a drink, biscuit and story time at the end of the session.
Give yourself an hour to boost your child's creativity and have a cuppa at the same time.
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