The Artful Life: 10 Crafty Tips to Boost a Child’s Self-Confidence and Improve Academic Performance: #9
Categories: animation, Art Education, business, Elysian Studios, family, humor, The Artful Life, youtube
As parents, we strive to help our children grow up to be healthy, productive adults. Times are changing faster than ever, and parents are working harder to make ends meet. With constant introduction to new technology, as individuals and as a family, we have more choices than we’ve ever had before. So how do we stay focused and ensure we give our children the best upbringing possible? In this series we will share some tips we have found that help children develop a positive self image, and encourage success in the classroom.
#9: Teach Them How to Create(& fund) Their Own Projects
It’s in the developing stages, but we are teaching our kids how to make movies (this was a clip made by our six year old). We decided to harness all the love of video games and cartoons and channel it into something related, but a bit more productive!
Whether it’s sports, music, school, art, or even TV… figure out your child’s interests (you know, the activities that they keep doing in their free time despite all of your nagging) and build on them. Let’s face it, soon enough they are going to grow up and spend a lot of time away from you. What if you could “get them hooked” on a positive activity now?
For this to work, it has to be something that you guide them to, teach them initially, and then counsel/critique along the way. It may require a bit of research (we had to rely on websites via Google) and it may require going out on a limb (buying materials from a new source or signing up for a new class), but when your child starts creating something unique, the pride you feel will make the trouble worthwhile!
Projects like this are perfect to show off to grandparents, family and friends, but are also perfect for school reports and talent shows! When your kids start to need additional materials for their project, make them save up their own money(we are currently working towards a new cast of Mario plush toys)!
What unique activities has your family participated in? We’d love to share them!
Stay tuned for our final tip, #10, tomorrow!
Missed earlier tips? Start here
