| Art is fun; it caters to the basic
creative instinct which is present in everyone. It can impart a great feeling of
achievement especially to children who as yet have not been able to gain much of
a sense of success from their other efforts in life. It also helps backward
children to develop mentally and physically. Their confidence grows as they
experience success in art, and a confident child learns more easily than a tense
one. Physically handicapped children benefit because their motor control
improves as they attempt to make more delicate movements with their hands and as
they gradually impose more control upon themselves. Art is particularly valuable to mentally handicapped children who find it difficult to communicate their ideas and emotions and who perhaps even find it difficult to comprehend themselves. Subnormal children with very limited vocabularies may find that painting is easier than talking, and through painting they are able to express ideas, emotions, and reactions to situations and experiences. Children need to communicate in two ways. First, they have to convey information to other people, often about their immediate requirements concerning both tangible things— "I want to drink." or "I want to mention." —and less tangible things— "I want you near me." Secondly, they have to communicate with themselves. If children, do not have words to use, their minds are, inevitably, a disorderly mixture of responses to which they can react only emotionally, often with frustrations. Through their paintings such children are not consciously trying to tell other people that they have certain feelings, but with the paint they are able to create a concrete, permanent statement of feeling and so the emotion becomes less intense and under more control. Thus, art helps in the same way that acting and fantasy-play help children to regulate their emotions and recreations, i. e. , by recreating them in a controlled situation. Music, dancing, acting, and storytelling can give similar feelings of satisfaction and offer opportunities which may be of assistance to children either individually or collectively. |