When you look at your toddler paint on paper, or colour in a colouring book, you might look over and appreciate their creative efforts. You might even smile at the thought of your child having a fun time – but have you ever wondered about its positive impact?

The importance of art for children is often overlooked, or simply ignored. As soon as children gain consciousness and control over their bodies, their curiosity goes on overdrive; they try their best to understand the world around them by observing, imitating – and of course, creating.

Art is the best medium through which children can manipulate the tools they are given to create something entirely new; it’s a great way of expressing themselves in a creative, productive way.

A perfect way to sum up the impact art has on children is with a quote from the book, “The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family’s Life with Art & Creativity” by Jean Van’t Hul: “The truth is that art is vital, if somewhat intangible, and that if children engage in hands-on art activities, they learn much better in all disciplines.”

Here are just some of the many benefits of art:

It Improves Motor Skills

Motions like holding a crayon, or using the scissors may seem ordinary to us – but they’re actually milestones for children. Such movements of the body, when learned at an early age, improve their overall motor muscles. Despite these motions requiring a lot of coordination from toddlers, they are really enjoyable – they won’t get tired of squeezing out glue or cutting up shapes out of paper, because they know how much fun it is.

All this proves especially beneficial for the long run, when children learn how to grasp their backpacks, button and unbutton their coats, or hold the spoon to eat themselves.

It Promotes Visual Learning

When children sculpt shapes out of play-dough, or create shapes with pencils, they develop their visual-spatial skills – which are often called the “first language of the brain.”

And this is no exaggeration! Before toddlers even learn to speak, they look at the world around them and interpret their environment accordingly. They use their own senses and experiences, and transform their perceptions to give a colourful output. This way, they create a better visual understanding of the world around them. They also indirectly learn to appreciate the finer details of life – buildings, trees, the clouds, the list goes on.

It Encourages Neural Activity

Art is something that used all the five senses – sight, smell, taste, touch and sound. When children use them during art, their brains function on optimum mode: their synapses work actively as children squeeze out paint from the tube, mix it with other colours, and smear it on plain paper.

As simple as those actions sound, they’re actually building neural pathways in their brains, helping them become better at deep-thinking, and perceiving multiple things at once.

It Strengthens Academic Skills

Yes, this is in fact true! Although your child is working with colour pencils, crayons and their imagination, they are actually building up on fundamental academic skills.

While drawing something, they count the number of colours they’ve picked, make size comparisons and create shapes, thereby building basic mathematical concepts. While choosing what colour to pick next, or deciding what to draw, they’re improving on integral skills like critical thinking and decision-making. Furthermore, once they talk about what they’ve made to their parents, they build better language skills. It’s an entirely win-win situation.

Art Promotes Creativity

This sounds pretty self-explanatory, but it is one aspect that people forget the easiest. Creating art employs a whole process: they string ideas with one another, and try their best to create it out of thin air. For children who already lack awareness of the world, it’s the perfect chance for them to think outside the box, and just create without limits.

This act of simply creating does wonders – it helps them use their minds and hearts for something other than studying or playing. They express their emotions in a safe, healthy way, and become better thinkers and explorers.


Nurseries in JVC (Jumeirah Village Circle) like Oakfield Early Learning Centre are more than aware of the importance art holds for children. In fact, apart from regular academic classes, Oakfield allocates a fixed time for arts and crafts, where practitioners help children create different things with paint, glue, paper – and some imagination.

So the next time you see your little one unleashing their inner Picasso, you should feel satisfied – because they are on their way to healthy mental and emotional development.