teach your children to love the arts
Wednesday 22 January 2025
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

Teach your children to love the arts

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today Teach your children to love the arts

Drawing together
Muscat - Arab Today

‘Love of beauty is taste but creation of beauty is art.’ And in a world as beautiful and diverse as ours wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t encourage our children to open their senses to all the beauty around? As the competition begins from a very young age to get into the perfect kindergarten or ideal school and prestigious university, as parents we tend to focus on getting the core subjects (like maths or science or languages) right. I’ve had many a discussion with other mummies about the new syllabus or the teaching methodology or the qualifications of the teacher or the new test that just got over recently.

Very rarely have I had a chat with a fellow parent about taking our kids to the Opera House for a show or pop over to Gallery Sarah for viewing the new exhibit. Growing up in a house full of doctors in India I remember visits to the Operation Theatre or the Out-patient Department at my mum’s hospital on holidays but I don’t remember going to visit an art museum or gallery or even seeing a show at the theatre; but that was different era altogether. 

Now with so much at our disposal it’s truly a shame if we parents don’t encourage and inculcate a love for the arts in our children, both young and old. Research done by The National Endowment for Arts, USA proves that arts have a strong positive impact on the mental development of a child. Arts (which include theatre, music, literature, and visual arts) have a great impact on the social and emotional skills of children. They help in encouraging helping, sharing, and caring behaviours from a young age.

According to psychologist Jennifer Drake, Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College, the arts also help to regulate emotion, encourage creativity and bolster confidence in children. While the core school subjects engage the left hemisphere of the brain, arts engage the right hemisphere. And this is the part of the brain that coordinates our daily tasks, help us to create, teaches us to be intuitive and gauge the emotions of others and so on. So if you want your kids to have a well-rounded education then adding arts (in all its myriad forms) is an absolute must. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Art Galleries and Museums

Parents don’t plan a trip to the mall this weekend, take your little ones to an art gallery instead. There are plenty to choose from right here in Muscat. Head to Al Madina Gallery in MQ or Bait Muzna to get a dollop of Omani culture. Or call the Bait Al Zubair art gallery and plan a visit. Let your children roam around the works of established and new Omani artists at Fatma’s Gallery in Qurum. Let them explore these artistic spaces without you breathing over the shoulder. Allow them to take the lead and encourage them to ask plenty of questions. Read the descriptions to them and ask them their thoughts. Expose them to all forms of art — traditional, Omani, contemporary, and many more.

Lights, Camera, Action

Let your child be mesmerised by the stage. Fill their ears with music and prose flowing from a stage with passionate actors. The Royal Opera House Muscat is a fantastic place to start. With an array of shows to choose from we only need to click the mouse to land ourselves in those gorgeously plush seats inside one of the most spectacular opera houses in the region. The Opera House has special shows for families as well so you can take your younger children too. Experiment with your senses and your child’s; see what they enjoy. Is it ballet? Or a musical concert? Or opera? Perhaps some jazz? You won’t know unless you try it, right? Though the season is coming to a close there are still some dazzling performances you can still grab tickets for, so hurry! Let your child be awe-struck by the live music, lights, costumes, and characters.

Music and Dance

You don’t need to teach a child to love music and dance, it happens by instinct. Lullabies, rhymes, songs and so the journey begins. Take them for concerts and live shows. Do a karaoke for the next play date. Nudge them to shake a leg too, it’s ok if they dance funny no one’s judging; the idea is to have fun. Have a dance break between intense study sessions. Take your child for music lessons; let them explore the many instruments and pick one they like (you may like the violin but she wants drums, then so be it.).There are plenty of places that offer lessons from a young age. Unless you allow your child to explore the many facets of her personality she won’t know where her passion lies. Sign up for ballet lessons at the The Music Palace or take your infant to Jitterbugs to get him going. And there are plenty of music institutes for older kids as well.

Learning begins at home

Don’t have time to do all this? No worries, you can have all the fun right here at home. Create an Arts station — you just need any old table, lots of coloured papers, glitter, glue, child scissors, crayons and markers, and you are all set. Talk to them while they get their hands dirty and encourage them to draw or create whatever takes their fancy. Introduce them to different kinds of music. Sing along with them and show them your best moves. Have a dance session for 10-15 minutes every day, kinda like a Zumba class. Let’s not forget the culinary arts, please.

Download some kid-friendly recipes and try a new one every week and get them involved in it totally. Teach them how much fun it can be to create something from scratch and see it being devoured by others with relish. It improves their creativity, dexterity and problem-solving abilities. Swap your bedtime story for some poetry. Let them learn to love the music and rhyme of beautiful poetry right from infancy. Discover the artist inside your little one and let him flourish.

Source :Times Of Oman

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

teach your children to love the arts teach your children to love the arts



GMT 13:29 2018 Friday ,14 December

Turkey targets military over alleged Gulen links

GMT 17:54 2011 Wednesday ,11 May

Israel to open Karm Abu Salem crossing

GMT 13:16 2012 Monday ,31 December

The government vs. the elections

GMT 10:49 2015 Thursday ,19 November

Who's 'so vain' it was Warren Beatty, at least in part

GMT 12:02 2012 Wednesday ,12 December

Its carnival time at the social centres

GMT 12:41 2017 Thursday ,09 February

B-sample clears All Black of doping

GMT 11:46 2015 Tuesday ,03 March

EU condemns 'arbitrary' Nemtsov funeral bans

GMT 14:02 2015 Wednesday ,04 March

Mexico nabs Zetas drug cartel leader 'Z-42'

GMT 19:33 2014 Thursday ,27 November

'I was wrong' to ignore sexual assault allegations

GMT 08:42 2011 Friday ,01 July

Qatar shares rise to two-week high

GMT 14:30 2015 Friday ,27 February

Qatar's emir meets Arab-American figures

GMT 12:00 2012 Sunday ,11 March

Rustic Italy:places to stay for food lovers

GMT 19:43 2015 Saturday ,03 January

Prophet's birthday marked in Port Said

GMT 13:20 2017 Monday ,26 June

King leaves on a private visit

GMT 11:34 2014 Sunday ,27 April

Best home design

GMT 09:07 2014 Wednesday ,18 June

'No need to change' Europe's budget rules

GMT 21:29 2011 Wednesday ,04 May

Daughter: Bin Laden taken alive then shot

GMT 09:36 2016 Friday ,16 September

'Reckless' Netanyahu harmed US aid

GMT 11:53 2014 Thursday ,17 July

Tom Ford reveals Fall 2014 campaign

GMT 19:02 2011 Wednesday ,13 April

Mubarak sons arrive in Tura prison

GMT 14:04 2017 Saturday ,14 October

LIBRA (September24th-October23rd)

GMT 10:43 2018 Sunday ,14 January

Basaksehir agree Turan loan deal with Barcelona

GMT 21:38 2015 Friday ,20 February

Saudi deputy FM meets US official

GMT 12:40 2012 Friday ,21 September

The Middleton fit for fifty

GMT 15:29 2012 Tuesday ,17 July

US approves first HIV prevention pill

GMT 10:35 2016 Saturday ,04 June

On Tiananmen anniversary

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday