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The Artful Life: 10 Crafty Tips to Boost a Child's Self-Confidence and Improve Academic Performance: #8 | Elysian Studios

The Artful Life: 10 Crafty Tips to Boost a Child’s Self-Confidence and Improve Academic Performance: #8

Categories: family, galleries, The Artful Life

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.

#8: “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” 

Image by infinitewhite, via Flickr


Children can only learn about the world around them when they get out and see it, smell it, and feel it.  Of course we all think vacations are good, but exploring a bit closer to home is great too!  Even if you don’t live in a city with museums and attractions close by, you can create deeply meaningful experiences for children (this is one of my favorite articles about that).  Excursions into the world develops their awareness, improves their social skills, increases their communication abilities and contributes to their sense of pride and accomplishment. Make their experiences away from home as diverse as possible.  It’s great to take children to kid-oriented places like the park, the zoo, McDonald’s, where they can just be kids and roam free.  However, sometimes they really need to experience more grownup settings, like an Art Gallery or Museum Exhibit, or even a fine dining restaurant (the kind that doesn’t have plastic lids and straws for drinks!)  It’s hard on parents to venture to destinations like this with children, but how will they learn to love these places if you don’t teach them?  If you are taking them to something like a museum exhibit, prepare them in advance by reading books, watching videos and playing games on the subject (you can usually find a great selection of resources at your local library).  This helps kids develop an interest, which prepares them to behave appropriately when they see it in person!

Where do you love taking your children?

Stay tuned for tip #9 tomorrow! Did you miss the earlier tips?  Start here

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The Artful Life: 10 Crafty Tips to Boost a Child's Self-Confidence and Improve Academic Performance: #9 | Elysian Studios

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

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New Endeavors: Writing an Ebook | Elysian Studios

New Endeavors: Writing an Ebook

Categories: abstract, Art Education, Art History, business, drawing, Elysian Studios, marketing, still life

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This week I started a brand new project, writing my first Ebook. An Ebook, or electronic book, is a book that exists as a file on your computer (often a PDF).  The advantage of this is that it allows books to be published more quickly than traditional print books, and it encourages new authors to share their expertise without waiting to be picked up by a publisher. Information in Ebooks can be more up to date, and address a smaller niche market than traditional print books.  They also have the benefit of being easily portable, not using paper or shelf space, until the reader decides to print any portion of the book!  New to this medium, I have signed up to take a class from the ever-inspiring Diane Gilleland, author of CraftyPod.  Having just revamped our computer systems here at Elysian Studios, I am in the process of installing, syncing and learning new programs that will help our studio communicate ideas more efficiently and effectively.  I have always dreamed of writing books, so I hope this first publishing adventure won’t be my last!

I am in the research stage at this point, and feel my knowledge base is steeped most in Art and Art History.  Though my subject is fairly set, I would like to ask a few questions of my audience, and appreciate any opinions you may have that might be beyond the scope of the questions I provided!  If you leave a comment, you will be entered in a chance to win a $10 Starbucks gift card!  I will select a winner at random on Mon. January 17.  Nothing goes better with a book than a cozy beverage!

Have you ever purchased or downloaded an Ebook?  Were you happy with it, and why/why not?

If you haven’t bought an Ebook, do you think you could see yourself buying one, as opposed to a print book?  What would be the deciding factor?

Based on the topics you have seen Elysian Studios cover, is there anything you would like to learn more about?

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Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 Starbucks gift card….yum!

And the winner is: MY LIFE UNDER THE BUS

Thank you all so much for participating!

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