10 Benefits of Arts and Crafts for Children

4 minutes

Arts and crafts for children are ideal for fostering creativity and imagination and supporting the integral development of the little ones.

10 Benefits of Arts and Crafts for Children

Written and verified by the teacher Samanta Ruiz.

Last update: 17 February, 2023

Science has shown for decades that creative activities favor the cognitive, psychological, and social development of people from birth and throughout their lives. Here, we’ll focus on childhood and, especially, on the benefits of arts and crafts for children. Little ones love to do these tasks, whether at home, at school, or in any environment where creativity becomes the center.

Arts and crafts for children bring multiple benefits for an integral development

As soon as children learn to handle their own hands, they’re able to convert various materials into new forms. In this process of creating something completely different, their fingers move quickly, while their minds learn and develop continuously. Without a doubt, arts and crafts for children have a lot of potential!

Crafting is magical. It’s an activity that combines play and learning. While kids work and have fun, the positive effects of handmade crafts begin to occur, transforming into the benefits we’ll tell you about below.

1. They encourage concentration

With handmade crafts, children learn to pay attention and focus on a goal in order to complete the task. From the choice of materials to the use of tools and techniques, everything requires the alertness of the senses and the mind in order for the task to be successful.

2. Stimulating creativity

Creativity is an effective channel of expression of feelings, ideas, and thoughts. This is very important for children, especially when they don’t yet know how to express their emotions in words. Moreover, creative children are characterized by the following:

Giving answers by using different reasoning
Relating facts
Memorizing more easily
Having a better sense of humor

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
– Albert Einstein –

A toddler finger painting a fish. — Crafts promote concentration and stimulate children’s creativity while allowing them to express their ideas and emotions.

3. Arts and crafts for children train the right hemisphere of the brain

Doing arts and crafts develops creativity and, with this, the right hemisphere of the brain is activated. There, the sense of aesthetics, the abstraction of ideas, and spatial vision are learned.

4. Activating the imagination

To create new objects, transform materials, and invent figures, the mind must soar in total freedom. There are no limits to the imagination when making crafts.

5. Improving self-esteem

Crafts are a challenge. Achieving the goal of creating something on their own makes children feel proud of themselves, gives them real confidence in their abilities, and boosts their self-esteem.

6. They support the development of psychomotor skills

One of the most obvious benefits of crafts for children is the positive effect they have on the coordination of movements. Engaging hands and the senses (sight, touch, hearing, and smell) in tasks such as cutting, coloring, kneading, or painting is a challenge for children. And, the more they practice these skills, the faster they’ll achieve more precise manual abilities.

7. Arts and crafts for children help them control anxiety

Nowadays, many children are under very high levels of stress, either due to school work or for other reasons. In this regard, crafts have the ability to reduce anxiety by generating a relaxed time.

A mother and daughter making winter crafts. — Making crafts helps to reduce stress, a problem that also affects children. In this way, problems are diluted as the objective of having a finished work of art comes to the forefront.

8. They teach children to be more flexible and open to different solutions

When working with their hands during arts and crafts, each child will obtain different results, even if they use the same materials and techniques. This is because each one will find different solutions to accomplish their task. This skill that they learn by making crafts will give them flexibility and mental agility.

9. They work on perseverance and patience

These two qualities are learned over time, and crafts are a great support for this. When undertaking a craft, children have to analyze a new situation, move forward according to certain steps, accept that something may go wrong, and overcome frustration. In this way, mistakes will be taken as lessons learned and as new starting points. Starting and restarting a craft helps to cultivate these virtues.

10. They provide a space for socialization

Working in teams, sharing materials, talking while creating, and cooperating with others helps children to be more sociable and collaborative. This is true regarding peer groups at school, friendships, and family members. The relationships and interactions that are generated by being in a group are favored by the relaxed atmosphere that generates quality shared time and a lot of fun.

Know the benefits of crafts for children and take advantage of them

Crafts are a great way to teach children many things and to encourage their creativity and imagination. But, undoubtedly, the best thing about them is that they can be transformed into educational and didactic objectives without children even realizing.

For parents and teachers, knowing the benefits of crafts for children will make them use and take advantage of this type of task and content more and more. These are ideal activities to support teaching, learning, and development processes, which also include physical, mental, and emotional health.