Visual Arts
Helping Your Seven-Year-Old Become an Artist
Helping Your Seven-Year-Old Become an Artist
As their ambitions and artwork begin tending towards realism, 7-year-olds become more focused on the art product rather than the process. The subject of their art often reflects their interests and experiences, and they are able to draw from observation. Ask questions about their work — their intent, the decisions they made, what they were thinking about. They can be highly self-critical at this age and eager to please. Your respectful interest in and support for their creative process, whatever the result, will help them develop their self-esteem and confidence.
At this age, children’s hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills have become fairly well developed. They are able to learn to use a variety of art tools safely and appropriately. This is a good time to expand your art materials to include things like colored pencils, skinny markers, modeling clay, cardboard and pipe cleaners. Keep everything organized and easy to access. Ultimately, the most important thing you can do to support your child’s development as an artist is to provide lots of unstructured free time and space to explore and create.