
I don’t think I really have to convince you that children love to paint. The soft texture of paint and vibrant colours will bring anyone’s attention. You can let children use their fingers when they are really young or maybe shaped stamps out of the sponge if you don’t want them to get really dirty. Painting activities for 4 year old are really simple. The best is if the background is one coloured, try to limit the main object down to one or maximum two, also, limit number of details added to just a few. I also use a whiteboard to guide the children through the elements of drawing they should undertake to accomplish the whole sketch and then painting. Children understand much better when they see progress happening in front of them. Some 4 year olds don’t know what is an oval or half circle so giving instructions by using words only may leave them frustrated as they will not be able to create a mental picture in their heads before they will start drawing and painting. There is another advantage of analyzing the picture with children the before they will start drawing. They will be able to focus and concentrate which is so important when it comes to the very young artists. They will be able to re-create the same picture over and over again and they can remember most of the details included. If your children love to paint too it may be a good idea to include a more systematic approach and continue painting or drawing with them as regularly as possible. Try to incorporate art into daily life. If you are not an arty person maybe your spouse/husband is or maybe one of your grandparents are, who would agree to undertake a commitment? If you prefer baking and decorating sugar cookies you can also turn it into the art project and talk about colour theory and which colours blends to achieve new ones or which colours are opposite to each other on the colour wheel. Don’t feel intimidated, children love to paint so an effort to make it happen will be greatly appreciated.