Early childhood is a time when children actively develop imaginative and flexible ways of thinking. By helping children have exposure to art experiences, you can help children tap into their own potential for creative expressions.  Art provides tremendous possibilities for teaching in every area of learning; language, science, social skills and math. As you encourage your child’s originality and self expression, you can also teach any other skill. When children are engaged in creative art experiences, they are building many important skills such as fine motor skills, and eye hand coordination, language, and creative problem solving.
Make art an everyday experience by providing a variety of materials and encouraging the creative expression of each child. Here are some ways to help children develop and exercise their imagination:

• Provide a wide variety of different surfaces to create with: shelving paper, sand paper, egg cartons, paper bags, boxes, adding machine tape, tissue paper, construction paper.
• Provide different mediums for sculpting, molding and playing such as play dough, modeling clay, silly putty, cornstarch and sand.
• Encourage children to explore and create from the imagination by telling stories, asking questions, making observations, sharing conversations and providing time and space for art play.
• Help develop an awareness and vocabulary for describing art such as color names, shades and hues, textures, design, and shapes