Being a big proponent of multisensory learning and the arts, our house was always busy with a variety of visual, tactile activity, incorporated through many arts and crafts at home. All four of my kids are visual learners and all interested in the arts. Even as adults, they have continued their involvement in the arts and have all pursued careers related to the arts and education. (Can you see my proud mama smile?)

We always had a bounty of art materials available at home — crayons, markers, paints and pastels. We also filled the cupboards with plenty of crafting supplies — scissors, glue, felt, yarns, a variety of papers, fabric paints and more. There was even one room of the house dubbed the ”art room” with floor to ceiling cabinets full of materials for creating. As our children got older, I wanted to keep them engaged in making, so the materials in the art room grew as they did.  Tempera paints became watercolors, crayons were replaced with Prismacolor color pencils and regular pencils were replaced with a variety of real art pencils.

Along with more sophisticated art supplies, their crafting materials also matured. When I saw my kids ready for new levels of crafting challenges, I made a trip to the nearby Michaels store. As an artsy mom, I enjoyed combing the isles for new materials with which to create. As our daughters got older, they enjoyed doing bead and jewelry work, candle making, glass painting, decoupage and scrapbooking. Our son enjoyed many of those along with glass etching, leatherwork and stone carving.

As adults, they have fond memories of time spent in the art room and are still drawn to doing and making. Just last night, two of my daughters were combing the store isles looking for fabric, flowers and props to decorate for an upcoming event. I love seeing how the experiences of their art room days continue to provide them creative opportunities at work and at play.

Bette Fetter Founder and CEO of Young Rembrandts and Author of Being Visual [email protected] Follow Bette on Twitter