Connecting with our Kids through the ARTS!

Using the arts is a great way to connect with your kids. The ideas are endless, but we’re sharing 10+ ideas our family uses to connect through the arts.

Whether it’s drawing, painting, designing, cooking, movement, music, writing, or other forms of creating, one of the best ways to connect with your kids is through the arts!

Before we jump into what you can do to connect through the arts, let’s talk about how you can use the arts to connect.

4 Tips on How to Connect with your Kids through the Arts

1. Be natural. One of the beauties of connecting through the arts is that some of the pressure is lifted. You’re not staring your kids in the eyes or waiting in uncomfortable silence. Your hands are busy, and often your feelings are coming out in what feels like a safer way — through music, movement, or making something!
2. Ask open-ended questions or statements. Whether they’re two or twelve, it’s not always easy to tell what a kids’ artwork actually is. Don’t exclaim, “Wait, is that a bird or your brother or an astronaut landing on the moon?” Rather, ask open-ended questions or make general statements. One of my favorites is, “Wow! Look at what you’ve made! Tell me about it!”
3. Focus on process not product. Who cares if the paint colors get muddied, he can’t remember the dance routine, she says the wrong words in the drama, or the recipe turns out terrible. Focus on learning, growing, expressing, and connecting!
4. Don’t direct. Participate. As you engage in the arts with your kids, resist the temptation to enter teaching mode. Be a participant. Explore, express, and create right along-side of your kids. Learn from them; listen to their ideas. Don’t direct, just participate.

 

10+ Ways to Connect with your Kids through the Arts

• Visit an art exhibit or art museum. Now before you brush this one off as your kids being too young or disinterested, look up your local art museum online. Nowadays, many museums have interactive exhibits and hands-on activities.
• Attend a concert. Classical, pop, Christian, small-town, large-scale, whichever you choose!
• Bake Together :: My kids love when we bake together. They don’t care who picks the recipe, they just love joining me in the kitchen and working should to shoulder.
• Do a science project, like making slime together! My kids have this crazy obsession with slime, so we grabbed some slime supplies and our favorite slime book and set out to try a new slime recipe a few times each week!

• Invent a recipe with the kids. (Click here for ideas how.)
• Create a memory box with one of your kids. Gather stickers, embellishments, paints and markers, and other items to decorate the outside of a shoebox, plastic bin, or small wooden box like this. Talk about the different pictures, trinkets, and other memos your child can add to the box throughout the year.
• Make music together.
• See a play or musical.
• Build something together.
• Read or write poetry. These are some of our family’s favorite poetry books for kids.
• Take a dance class — or have a dance party in the kitchen.
• Listen to classical music geared toward teaching kids. We love these CDs!

Find more activities for Family Bonding on our Pinterest board!

The ideas for connecting with our kids through the arts are endless, but don’t let that stop you! Choose one activity to do today and build those relationships now!

 

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