Each child is so unique and special! As a mom, I keep getting amused at the personality traits that my 2 kids display. While my daughter loves art and outdoor play, my little boy seems to be obsessed with cars!!! His whole world is car-centric. When he walks he makes sounds like cars and when he plays all the toys must be cars.
I wanted to expose him to the world of arts – drawing, painting, doing something creative like his sister. Thanks to Crestar Learning Centre for inviting us to check out their ARTmazing classes, I got to know that it’s very much possible to make this car-lover spend some creative time on art activities as well.
One Saturday morning, boy and me visited their Hougang branch and enjoyed some beautiful art moments. Read on what we did there, how the reluctant boy started taking interest and at the end of the session how he really cherished his creation.
As a mom, I got to know about his behavioral aspects – some of which were unknown to me. Also, it was very fun to see different kids coming up with their own versions of arts and crafts.
Crestar Learning Centre is very popular among kids and parents and it offers several enrichment programs in dance, music, languages and so on.
What’s ARTmazing?
ARTmazing is the new art program developed with the aim of providing a better and more meaningful art learning journey for your child. It offers an exciting new pedagogic environment where students can achieve the highest possible artistic and intellectual standards as individuals. Crestar has adopted the inter-disciplinary approach by infusing other subject areas into the art lessons. During the lessons, students are exposed to a wide variety of mediums. It is also child-centered as the average class size of 6 – 8 allows the teacher to have sufficient time and attention for every child.
There are age-appropriate levels like Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and so on to discover and develop kids’ interest in Arts. Each level has specific objectives and let the kids explore drawing, coloring, painting, craft etc.
BEGINNER
Age 4 – 4 years 11 months oldObejctives:
Psychomotor skills
(Hold and control the art tools/ Colour within a specific space)
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Drawing (Basic lines and shapes tracing and simple drawing)
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Colouring (Basic colours, Oil pastel, coloured pencil, etc.)
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Painting (Watercolour paint, poster paint, etc.)
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Craft (Simple crafts with folding, tearing and pasting. Explore various kinds of texture with different materials)
The moment we entered the centre, boy started saying that he doesn’t want to draw and paint because “his hands start paining”. After some coaxing and cajoling, he decided to give it a try. Lol.
First things first, Crestar’s Hougang branch is pretty big, clean and I saw many kids and parents there. All kids looked happy to attend their respective classes. Lot of information by way of posters, flyers is available too for reference.
Let’s enter Crestar’s Art Studio:
This is how the Art Studio looks like. Room that really looks like studio. Various coloring materials, papers, palettes, buckets, brushes and all. This means serious focus on Arts.
Meet the Art Teacher – She was pleasant, friendly and firm. She was asking apt questions to kids and motivating them to do better. What I liked is the fact that there was NO SPOON-FEEDING. Kids were trying to their own stuff and teacher was facilitating them.
Look at this Reluctant Boy!…Looking not very interested when the teacher asked him to trace the drawing. Then he looked at other kids who were doing their art. Left with no choice, my boy started tracing and coloring.
The world of Arts is such that it’ll slowly but surely attract everyone. So here’s the boy gradually started having fun, appreciating the colors. Asking questions to the teacher and responding to her queries happily…
Tracing and coloring done! What’s next? At this point, I asked the teacher if whatever he had “colored” was too lousy. Teacher said that at this age, this is how they’ll do and in fact, this boy was much better for the first-timer. Okay! 🙂
Drawing and coloring done, now time to explore another art form – Painting!
Not bad actually…He liked using water colors, mixing them. Teacher was asking questions like which color you get when you mix red and white and The boy was replying enthusiastically. Color Cycle taught in an interactive way I would say!
Have a look at the video below to see how the kids can paint nicely and use brushes and all…
Happy Boy with Happy Froggie
What’s our takeaway of Crestar’s ARTmazing session?
Thanks Crestar for helping to burst my own assumption that My boy doesn’t love art!!! ♥ Do try out Crestar for your kids too.
Check out ARTmazing class schedules here.
Choose your convenient Crestar Learning Centre here.
Visit Crestar Website here.
Oh this is so cool, I like it .
This is so nice and great for all the kids… Really artmazing!~ Fun fun fun!
Art Studio is amazing and have tried it before with my kids. These art classes are really good for their imagination.
That’s very good for a first-timer. Just like your son, my girls aren’t into colouring and painting too. Maybe their hands will start paining too. Haha!
Seems like a good art school with patient and engaging art tutors. Will KIV for reference. Thanks for sharing.
His work of art turned out pretty nice!!
I agree that the person (aka the teacher) teaching the child art plays a huge part whether he’ll enjoy it!!
He made a really nice Masterpiece. This can really boost their creativity.
I wished there were sessions like this when my son was growing up. He never really liked anything artistic, up to now when he is already in high school. Despite many art projects growing up, he never really got motivated to like drawing or coloring.
Great sessions, always wanted to spend time with kids in such sessions.
We have a 3-year old kid. She loves to scribble. She loves to do some doodles. She’s now enrolled in Kindergarten. She could color her coloring book. She knows to select the appropriate color for the objects like the fruits, the leaves, the sun, among others. In her tender age, art is the best exposure for her to develop her writing skill on the way she makes the circle, the rectangle, the square.
Well done to your son! The final product of his froggy vs the beginning sketches was so different. Very nice and he looks mighty pleased too 🙂
What a lovely art piece your little one did! I think it’s quite important for little kids to indulge in some creative time, especially the older they get.
Wow. Your son has done a commendable job. Excellent… Every child must be given a chance to explore their artistic & sporty side.
Both my girls love painting, drawing, cutting, pasting and everything messy and fun. Art is a great way to let children explore and tell their own stories. Glad your boy got to experience it in a fun way with Crestar.
Hey Shub! I feel the same way as you about letting my child try out various activities. In fact, we covered his table with white paper so he can doodle freely whenever he wants. Good to know that the teachers at crestar are patient yet firm which encourages kids to figure things out themselves. I certainly can’t wait for my boy to be old enough to attend art classes!
V interesting approach whereby they infuse other subject areas into the art lessons..will KIV if plan to send my boy in time to come..thks for sharing!