Play and Development Benefits of the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel
We all love to give toys that are not only fun but benefit children too, promoting learning and development through play.
Guessing at the benefits of an easel for children is easy – it stimulates imaginative and creative thinking and abilities by making arts and crafts fun and easy. But a child’s easel delivers other important benefits too especially if, like the features of the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Easel, it is carefully designed with these benefits mind.
Gross and fine motor skill development
Working at an easel benefits both gross and fine motor skills. Larger muscles are kept active as children move about the easel and reach to paint or draw. Using fine tools, manipulating materials and putting paint to paper develops hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
The generous proportions of the Melissa & Doug Easel allow expansive works of art involving plenty of reaching and stretching! Even fidgety, sports-loving children who love to be creative but just can’t sit still will enjoy a properly-sized easel.
Logical thinking
Art involves more than putting paint to paper! It involves concentration, planning, logical sequences, creating and searching for patterns and relationships, experimentation, considering consequences and problem solving. In other words, processes that exercise and develop logical thinking. For instance, even the youngest Picasso must consider appropriate colors, sizes and relative positions for the various elements of their picture.
These thought processes can get into full flow when, as with the Melissa and Doug Deluxe Easel, everything needed is at hand – no stopping to hunt for a particular crayon or paint brush. Because the easel is two-sided, children can sketch and plan out ideas on one side and execute their masterpiece on the other. And of course as with any easel, children can stand back and think about their work as it progresses.
Spatial thinking
Working with images develops spatial thinking abilities too – the ability to learn from and communicate through images, pictures, graphs, diagrams and so on. Development of this alternate and additional “learning channel” is invaluable for any child but especially if they respond less well to traditional “read and listen” teaching and/or are naturally more skilled in spatial thinking. Architects, physicists, computer programmers, animators, engineers, designers and so on, have strong spatial thinking skills.
Intrapersonal development
Interpersonal play is good but children need intrapersonal – solo – time too. Playing solo brings children into direct communication with their thoughts, ideas and emotions, important for the development of self-awareness and emotional coping skills. Solo creativity also allows children to take charge, managing their own activities and working at their own pace, developing self-motivation and esteem.
An easel provides a child with their own space, literally as well as emotionally!
For some real-life insights into children’s interaction with the easel, see parents’ reviews.
For the best availability and prices, buy the easel online at Amazon
