For many people the word art evokes images of messy tables, spilled paint, and funny drawings. It might be all that, but even those are highly educational and should be valued greatly. Here’s why. Did you know that:

Art influences motor skills. While holding a paintbrush, crayons or a pair of scissors at a young age, children improve their fine motor skills which thus gives better results when learning how to write later on.

Art influences language development. Small children first encounter shapes and colors. By learning how to name them, they develop their first basic language skills. But that is not all. Older children are able to describe their drawings and to share the feelings that those drawings evoke. This makes them use the language, which as a result turns them into eloquent human beings.

Art influences decision making. Knowledge is limited, whereas imagination isn’t, thus it provides us with innumerable solutions to problems. Since art requires being creative, it demands employing imagination more often. The more it is employed, the greater number of solutions appear to us, which is a skill very useful for managing life, in general. Creativity develops by working on it, and can be applied to all spheres of life, not only education.

Art influences children’s social and emotional development. Drawing, painting, making sculptures, acting, singing – any of these give a chance to a child to make his or her own personal statement, which is unique. This way children’s self-esteem is being built and made stronger, thus making them emotionally secure and freer in social interactions.

Art helps one develop as a person with great empathy. Since art is food for the soul, it provides one with all the feelings, emotions and ideas that someone else expressed through a work of art. It helps you recognize some of your own feelings and attitudes, thus helping you reconnect with yourself and other human beings. By getting reminded that other people go through a lot of similar situations as you do, you learn how to sympathize and empathize, which makes you a better teammate, or even a better leader, be it in school or in life.

Art transcends cultural differences and shows what’s uniquely human. Even though you might be aware of cultural differences, through art you will learn how to put them aside, or maybe even ignore them. Through art you will learn how to appreciate, celebrate and remember the beauty of the diversity of expression.

Art teaches history. By being able to look at different pieces of art, coming from diverse periods in the past, and by being able to compare and contrast them, we learn about the past, as well as the present. As a matter of fact, we can even foresee the future through art.

Art helps develop inventiveness. Creating a piece of art demands and requires the process of thinking and decision making, which also gives as a result a group of people who do not blindly follow other people’s directions. Quite the contrary: people who seek and create their own ways and paths are created this way. They themselves learn how to reach the solutions and make improvements, which makes them better citizens.