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It’s the process not the product.  This is the key component to keep in mind when exposing your children to art.  Regardless of the age the child it’s the process of completing the artwork that is meaningful and packed with rich experiences.  How the end product turns out is neither here nor there.  As an adult I visited an art studio on a farm in the country.  I was thrilled to finally be able to try my hand at a potter’s wheel.  It was something that I was amazed at as I watched artists and sculptors create masterpieces at art shows. They made it look so effortless!  I couldn’t wait for my turn, and even though I had a mini-lesson, boy was it hard!  My end product was a little lopsided but I will never forget the feel of the wet clay moving through my hands and the vision of the piece of clay changing from one form to the next.  For me, it was indeed the process that was more significant than the end piece of pottery I created.

Your child’s artwork is ever changing.  He’s showing more control over his fine motor movements.  There is a chance he is showing a thought process as he begins to draw or quite often he may do the opposite:  choose to draw first then decide what it is he created!  As your child is drawing, wait for him to tell you about his picture before jumping to a conclusion. After all,  what you might believe to be a flower could really be a shark.  To encourage communication around the artwork you can offer encouragement and praise during the process commenting on how much you may like a color he chose to use or the shapes he drew. Display his artwork proudly! 

Provide your child different types of media to create with. You can use paints, colored pencils, crayons, pencils, clay, markers and more!  One of my son’s favorite ways of drawing was to draw in shaving cream on the kitchen table.  I would spray out a big area of shaving cream for him and a pile for myself.  The feel of that shaving creaming going through your fingers is very sensory.  Flatten out the pile and create your own drawing board.  My daughter and I would play the game “Copy Me” where one of us would draw something and the other one would try to copy it. We drew rainbows, suns, cats, cars, balls, trees, flowers and more!  We also worked on writing letters and numbers in the shaving cream.  And a special bonus to using shaving cream is that the house smells nice and clean when you’re done playing!  Again, remember it’s the process, not the product!