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

My dd 6 Loves art and being creative. Sadly I don't think they do enough of it st school but st home she has free access to art supplies. I pick up stuff all the time and shove it in the art box, also collect recyclables that can be used

We also love watching inspiring art shows - on holiday at the moment and watching creative Galaxy. Already have inspo for things to do when we get home

What I love about art is that it can be a fairly cheap hobby (£land or recyclables) but is very very rewarding.

We talk a lot to our children and ask them to describe things as clearly as possible. My eldest loves drawing and colouring so he does that quite a bit which is starting to show his arty skills. My youngest like to play with his trains and cars, he very creative with the stories and role play he comes up with

Junk modelling is always fun, encouraging them to have a go and be a bit messy. Also big playground chalks, they love drawing on them outside on the paving.

My daughter is creative and loves to express her creativity all over my walls!

We have just done her bedroom up and had a wall done in blackboard paint and also a massive white board installed on the wall!

My walls in the rest of the house will be nice again and drawing free soon!

Olivia is very creative, she loves to draw & decorate things & she's also creative in the garden, she has her own little patch which she plants, waters, feeds & keeps tidy

My boys like to write stories and make their own comics and books so I help them to put them together and their DH helps with the artwork.

My youngest likes to sew new toys and cushions. My eldest enjoys creating things out of lego. Neither of them are that interested in drawing, despite repeated encouragement.

In the holidays and some weekends we have craft days. Painting or making things. I love to buy them the little kits you can get that encourages them to make things. Paint a money box, make some Jewellery etc

I love to get large pieces on paper outside where weather allows or I'll tape to a floor indoors.. give the kids paint, crayons and let them create whatever they wish! Cheap and entertaining

Plenty of arts and craft kits, colouring pencils and paper are always available

We have a HUGE painting that our son did when he was at infant school! we have kept some of his "masterpieces" but a lot were recycled. We used to chalk on the patio, paint pebbles with washable paints so they washed off and were ready to use again another time, but his favourite was to make paper mache items - some of those got really creative like the "snot monster" who had lots of green crayons melted over him!

We used to do a lot of arts and crafts, using shop bought stuff and sticks, cones etc. found on walks. It was cheap and fun.
My top tip is to let them get messy (but have a bath run to plonk them in when they're done).

We have a Mr maker box full of creative items

my daughter loves colouring, paints, collage making and stickers and will spend hours doing this without me initiating the activity but my son is very different and even if a painting activity is set up for him and we do this together he is bored in 5 minutes. His favourite creative activity is to make 'inventions' with bits of recycling

my son lived playdoh the most.

My son is 2 and already loves all things creative. We spend some time every week trying out different materials for art - sometimes we use crayons, sometimes we will opt for paints. I'm trying to teach him how different materials work and how colours mix together. I like to show him something and then let him have a go himself and try things out. I really enjoy encouraging his creativity.

My little girl loves drawing and painting and it's now come a regular in her routine!

I believe that creativity is only born out of a real love and interest in a subject. Therefore I introduced my daughter to all manner of activities and then let her decide which she had a real fondness for. I was also happy for her not to continue with something she had attempted but had no real interest in. Happy, the clarinet was abandoned but drawing and cooking prevailed.

Plenty of crafts - crayons, building things from old plastic bottles and boxes, collages from leaves they find on nature walks, etc.

I let my four year old mix all the colours of Play-Dough even though it pains me!!!!

Encourage alll drawing, writing v, creating ow cartoons etc

We often buy modelling clay packs that Lidl do and she can make whatever she wants! It then gets baked afterwards im the oven so all the crazy creations get kept. She even wanted one time to really understand about false teeth so we made some pretend ones out of clay which was good fun!!

My son has a massive box of coloured crayola chalks. We let him have free reign on our patio to create whatever he likes. We take a photo of his special creations before the rain washes them away and gives him a clean slate!

We keep bits for rainy day arts and crafts! DD has an easel as she loves painting and drawing...

We write activites on raffle tickets which one pulled out of the hat is for that week. It has proved a great success - children do things they would never have thought about. Our most successful was 'build your own museum to nature' I am amazed at what they achieved - even our neighbours came round to view - later they painted pictures of the items.