5 art therapy exercises for children

Children are great explorers. Every day they express their motivation to know and discover new things. They are beings who marvel at everything that surrounds them and make their lives a magical world in which discoveries reign.

The curiosity that children harbor shapes the potential of their creativity. They have a great capacity to generate new ideas, that we can see reflected in their games and their questions. And they have their imagination as a treasure, an important resource that helps them enjoy themselves in the best way.

However, Children’s creativity can be explored in various ways, one of them is art. Through creative processes, children can learn, explore, stimulate various sensations and perceptions, motivate themselves, learn resources to face difficult situations, improve attention, motor skills and their visuospatial skills, among many others.

Many times we even think that children have no problems, but this is not the case. Of course they have them, just like fears and worries, the difference is that they show them in a different way. Art therapy exercises are an excellent option both to help them find a path of expression and to solve them.

Below we explain 5 interesting art therapy exercises for children that strengthen their creative world and also facilitate the expression of what worries them most.

The magic of mandalas

Mandalas are sacred circles that come from eastern cultures and that have begun to expand throughout the world today. There are different ways to use them with children. Some of them are the following:

Color mandalas. Children can decorate or paint already designed mandalas. In this way, we will help them enter a state of calm and relaxation.Create and decorate mandalas. When they have the ability to make more precise drawings, they can create their own mandalas and then decorate them. In addition to relaxing, they will awaken your creativity.Mandalas and mindfulness. The therapist invites children to pay close attention to the creative process. To do this, he uses elements that favor this situation, such as music.

The magic of mandalas consists of making it easier for the child to connect with himself, with your deepest thoughts and emotions. Through them, children can express how they feel and increase their creativity and visual-motor skills. Additionally, the art therapist can analyze the child’s thoughts and feelings through what she projects onto them.

Art therapy for children with plastic art

Plastic art exercises are wonderful. TO Through elements such as photographs or a drawing, children create their work of art and explore various sensations and perceptions during the process. The ideas are multiple, here we show you some:

Photography. Here the child knows himself through images of himself and his world. Subsequently, he reflects on the choice of photographs of him and the relationship with his conflicts.Paint. Through it, the child is able to show part of his internal world. In addition, painting can also be used with the little ones to stimulate their senses. For example, you can paint with your hands.Cuts. Through the creation of a collage Children can stimulate their mind to put into it what they feel and think.Sculpture. It is about creating things using clay or some moldable material, even your own body can also be used to express thoughts, situations and certain feelings.

All these exercises favor the release of problems and changes of perspectives. The therapist can even suggest that the children perform the work again as a representation of the change. In this way, problems will take another form and new paths can be sought.

The world of writing

To carry out art therapy with children through writing, you must Take age into account when choosing activities.

A possible exercise would be to make a description of themselves. Once finished, an analysis is done with them about the reason for each aspect, as well as what they would like to improve and what they would not.

Another art therapy exercise for children is writing stories. It involves children creating a story, paying attention to each character, place where it takes place, and scene. In addition, they then reflect together to understand the story, asking the child to associate the characters with the people they know, following the same process with the places and activities in the story. This will provide a lot of information about what is happening to the child and how we can guide him or her to resolve it.

As we see, Writing promotes attention, enhances creativity and allows children to free themselves from problems, guided by the therapist.

Art therapy for children through movement

Through movement, children can achieve integration of their emotional, cognitive and physical aspects. In addition, it allows them better spatial orientation, strengthens creativity, releases endorphins and expresses their emotions and ideas.

Theater. Children can show what happens to them through representation, they can even be asked later to represent a way to solve it.Dance. Dance has an incredible therapeutic power because it helps children channel their emotions, connect with themselves and become aware of their body and their place in space.

Power of music

Music is an element that is capable of connecting with the deepest emotions. Therefore, it can be used in many ways to carry out different art therapy exercises for children. Some of them are the following:

Music and reflection. In this exercise the child explores the deepest part of himself in a reflective space favored by music. Afterwards, an analysis of what happened is done so that the child integrates her experiences on a physical, emotional and cognitive level.Compositions. This exercise is about letting children use all their ingenuity to compose a song that reflects what they think and feel, and then sing it or comment on it. In part of the session you can analyze what happened to promote the child’s learning and you can even reshape the song as a symbol of conflict resolution.Singing. Through singing, children can express what they feel in a very fun way. For example, they can choose the songs that they feel most identified with and explore what happens in the singing session through working with the therapist and with the group.Instruments. In this case, children explore the instruments and compose, expressing through music what happens to them.

Music promotes the resolution of emotional problems, strengthens creativity and encourages socialization. In addition, it enhances attention, memory, and helps structure language. It is an unmatched therapeutic tool.

Benefits of art therapy for children

As we see, art therapy for children provides numerous benefits. Some of them are the following:

Enhances creativity.It allows the expression of thoughts and feelings. It encourages the integration of psychological, physical and social aspects.Enhances executive functions such as attention, memory, spatial orientation.Improve language.Promotes self-knowledge.It helps to work in a group. It generates security and feelings of feeling heard.Encourage exploration.Increases self-confidencePromotes communication.Favors decision making.Helps face problems.Improves motor skills.

Art therapy is a way to promote well-being in children. An unmatched method that allows them to learn how to express, solve and face problems in a fun way.

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