1. Create an art space in your house. It can be the dinner table, a corner in a room, a kid’s table, anything that allows your child do get materials out and have ownership over their creating.

2. Talk about the materials. Sometimes kids will need a little encouragement with the materials that they are not naturally gravitating towards. Talking to them about the qualities of the materials can help spark their creativity. “Look at how this string changes color and sparkles in the sun…”, “Look how the different shapes on this paper make a pattern”, “What do you think happens if you mix these two colors?”

3. Make the clean up part of the process. It’s important for kids to know that it is ok to make a mess, but that they have to help with the clean up after.

4. Celebrate their art.

If there are a few things that your child is proud of, you could hang it up or send it in the mail to someone.