I was running around with my buddy Lorien tonight (she is almost 6), and we decided to go to Michael's. I don't know if I've mentioned before that I am an absolute sucker when it come to buying my son two things: books, and art supplies. This apparently carries over to my friend's kids.
Her enthusiasm for everything in the store was beyond adorable. She was particularly interested in stamps, and there were several $1 bins full of stamps. So we picked out a few. Ok, initially it was a few. It turned into about 10. Then we had to buy ink, naturally. And some paper. (Seriously. I'm a sucker.)
When we got home, Lorien and her sister Aowyn (who is 7) were beyond pumped about the new materials. We sat for over and hour as I taught them how to use the stamps and ink pads correctly: keep your fingers on the wooden grooves instead of the flat sides, rock the stamps on the ink pad instead of pounding them, clean the stamp really well before loading it with another color, etc. We had a few mishaps, but on the whole I was really proud of them for how quickly they caught on, and how deliberate they were with both their stamping decision, and taking care of the stamps.
Any kind of art activity is so, so good for kids. Creating art is by nature a multi-sensory experience, plus it requires hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, mental planning, cause and effect reasoning . . . completely worth the time and effort. If you're interested in blogs about art activities to do with children, the absolutely most lovely one I've found (and followed faithfully) is this: The Artful Parent.