Mumsnet users share how they encourage their children to express themselves creatively with Crayola

[JustineBMumsnet]

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Whether your child is a young artist in the making or you sometimes wonder if their creations are even fridge worthy, children can be happiest when they’re expressing themselves through crafts and colouring. With that in mind, Crayola would like to hear about how and why you encourage your children to express their creative ideas using colour..

Here’s what Crayola has to say: “We believe in the power of self-expression via colour! Whether it’s providing tools to put a purple octopus on the moon, or inspiring arts infused projects to bring to life together as a family, Crayola is passionate about raising creatively alive children and unleashing their originality. Via a wide range of innovative colourful tools and crafting activities, especially designed for kids, like washable pens, markers and paint, coloured pencils and twistable crayons that last longer, Crayola gives colourful wings to the imagination that grows in the hearts and minds of the children”.

What are your favourite crafting activities with your children? Which colouring tools do your children like using most? Perhaps your children most enjoy being creative if they’re developing their masterpieces as gifts for others? Or do you have children that love drawing and painting so much any encouragement from you is unnecessary? Do more creative tasks like colouring help your children to be more mindful? Or perhaps you find encouraging your children to be creative or art a great way to get them to open up and share what they’re feeling?

All who share how or why they encourage their children to express themselves and their ideas via colouring on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

I keep empty toilet roll tubes and lolly sticks for my kids to use during arts and crafts. I let them use leftover wrapping paper to draw on and make tags. X

My daughter loves painting sticks and also we started to paint with water paint on special papers.
Her other favorite craft is coloring and we mix it with sticking...so we use stickers sometimes. She loves crayons and also use pencils sometimes.

Lots and lots of colours, a big set of paints in every colour just makes him want to grab it. And no rules on ‘how’ to draw, just raw expression, even when he painted 2 toy cars into the masterpiece, physically embodying them into it with masses of paint.

My favourite thing I did with my children was cutting Potatoes in half and cutting chunks of Potato out of the middle and dipping it in paint and then letting them plonk the Potato all over the paper, they loved it also old fashioned paper mache around balloons it was messy but so much fun.

We enjoyed ‘water painting ‘ this summer- basic but my three year old loved it on hot days- just a tub of water and a paintbrush each- and the patio instead of paper!

My oldest loves playing with Lego. He loves creating different characters

All my kids love drawing and painting, making and designing, and I love to just let them be free with their art work and enjoy it. One of my older children hopes to do something with his art and is constantly working on his portfolio, which helps when it comes to the younger ones wanting help, because I can barely draw a tree! lol

My youngest isn't very creative - but I found that by using tracing paper - it gives the confidence to complete something imaginative. We enjoy designing old t-shirts with fabric pens and crayons. Also, have recently started rock painting. I love a colouring book and when I sit down and have a go - I often find my kids joining in!!

I sometimes give my son a plain sheet of paper to just be creative with crayons, pencils and felt tips. Other times I give him pages from a colouring book to see of he can colour a picture (his big sister will sometimes help him colour in the lines, or colour next to him to show how it's done)
As long as he has fun and enjoys his time everyone is happy

I like to let my daughter run wild with paper and felt pens as she like to feel artistic and it is a bit of a release and is fun for her.

I tape wallpaper or similar to the dining table and DS sits there for hours doodling with coloured pens and crayons.

Was a winner picked @JustineBMumsnet thanks!