Visual arts programs can spark a lifelong passion. Graphic design artists, architects and animation directors often credit the lessons they learned as children for introducing them to meaningful career paths.  

What about kids who have different interests, such as robotics, coding or even sports?

Visual arts programs can help them, too.

Both creating and appreciating art strengthens developmental building blocks every student needs to be successful in school.

With visual arts on the decline in most school districts, visual arts camps and afterschool programs might be the only way to introduce this creative pastime to your children.

Surprising benefits of visual arts programs

1. Language development: For young children, learning the words for art supplies, shapes and colors helps to grow their vocabulary. They form sentences and put thoughts together. Older children then have access to a richer word bank, communicating complex expressions to appreciate or critique what they see around them.
2. Visual learning: Sculptures, paintings and pictures often make literature and the humanities come alive. Especially for learners who need visual representation, an arts program helps them better understand the world.
3. Fine motor skills: The National Institutes of Health make it clear – children, by the age of six, should be able to draw a circle and handle safety scissors. Crayons or pencils trigger muscles in fingers and hands. These muscles are eventually needed to tie shoelaces and use computer programs. Older students often write or type with greater ease than children who are denied this early introduction to visual arts programs.
4. Hand-eye coordination: Something as simple as coloring or tracing objects, whether in person or online, helps strengthen pathways between eyes and hands. These vital pathways are needed later in team sports, while riding a bicycle, gardening, cooking, and more.  
5. Build confidence: Young artists learn how to create for themselves first. This emphasizes self-trust and inner approval. Students also learn how to give and receive both good and constructive feedback from peers, building self-esteem.
6. Healthy emotional expression: When children spend time in a creative space, thinking about and processing emotions, they learn patience, reflection and options. Once they’ve created a work of art, often they are left appreciating the experiences that led to such creations.  
7. Problem-solving skills: Art projects often involve the same set of tools or supplies for each artist, yet no two artists end up with the same result. This experience helps students define problems or projects, think outside the box and innovate – skills that come in handy years later as the problems they attempt to solve get more complex. It starts here.
8. Higher abilities in reading, writing, math, and science: According to Americans for the Arts, students exposed to visual arts as children are four times more likely to win an award for an essay or poem as well as participate in math and science competitions.
9. Cultural sensitivity and world awareness: For children to grow into successful adults navigating a global community, they need to first understand it. Visual artwork can teach awareness and appreciation for different religions, traditions, rituals. Students learn to see art through its creators’ eyes and as they grow, understand the need for sensitivity. They appreciate the finer details between representation and appropriation.
10. Fun: Let’s not forget that creating something beautiful, using imagination and creativity, is also a lot of fun. It feels good.

Where can we find them?

KidzToPros recognizes the importance of visual arts enrichment programs, especially for children who don’t have that option in their schools.

Popular on-campus programs include Art Skills: Architecture, Anime & Cartooning, Digital Arts + Graphic Design and 3D Modeling: 3D Character Design & Animation. 

KidzToPros also offers a variety of weekly Online Summer Camps that feature visual arts. 

Campers in grades PreK to 2 can participate in combo camps that include Art Skills. Campers in grades 2-8 can learn graphic design, digital art, 3D modeling, web design and more!