Last year I shared a lot about the importance of Preschool Development and helping young kids develop their own internal order. 
One of the ways we help our children and grandchildren accomplish this is through visual cues that help them move along independently. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from you, our parents and readers, that the Bedtime Chart is quite a hit, and a demand for the Morning Chart has arisen!
I love art and kids, so it makes a lot of sense that my business, Young Rembrandts, is all about teaching kids how to do art. In Young Rembrandts, we teach a lot of elementary drawing classes, but I have to say teaching preschool classes is my absolute favorite.
I love their enthusiasm and hunger to absorb the world around them – and their skill development is beyond remarkable.
Bringing art to children at an early age has tremendous impact, socially and academically. Look at these ladybug drawings and see what young kids can accomplish with some instruction and encouragement.
Brayden has the distinct advantage of having drawing classes at home. As the founder of Young Rembrandts, I’ve taught thousands of preschool kids how to draw, but always enjoy special time with my grandson.
One of my all time favorite things to do is to head into a classroom full of preschool students, sit them around a table and teach them how to draw. That would strike terror into the hearts of most people, but with training and a reasonable expectation of what is possible – it is a most remarkable experience.
Preschoolers doodle and draw as a form of communication and entertainment. While limited to often rainbows, smiley faces and basic shapes, these innate skills are the beginning of their visual and artistic vocabulary. Young children can benefit greatly from time spent learning to draw. Being trained to see and draw will expand the number of things they can draw, which in turn expands their ability to communicate verbally and visually.
I have enjoyed watching my grandson Brayden grow and manage tasks more independently and to help him, we keep his room well organized and easy to navigate. We also use lists and charts for certain tasks. But when working with kids, and many adults, it helps to make the lists visual.
The majority of our students are visual learners, so we need to pay more attention to the development of their visual skills. Our schools are very focused on verbal literacy, but visual literacy is essential to success in the classroom, especially for our visual learners. Visual literacy requires us to be able to read, write and interpret visual images, so we need to help our children gain proficiency.
The preschool years are ripe with opportunity to discover the world and prepare children as learners.
Along with building certain physical skills, like the pincher grasp used in writing, children also need ways to develop their sequencing abilities, focus and concentration skills. Here are five activities (free downloads) that are easy to implement at home and in the classroom.
