Creativity on the journey

Every child is born an artist. It is remaining an artist that is difficult. — Pablo Picasso. Every child seems to be born with a creative impulse. It's instinctive, as much a part of being human as is higher thought or longing to go home. Of course not all your little guys will turn out to be Picassos, but by nurturing and encouraging the art maker in your child, they will undoubtedly become more of a rounded human being. They will be better at seeing other points of view, be better at thinking for themselves and working out new ways of doing things. These are all qualities to be encouraged in our shrinking and often self-centred world. And we know that toddlers automatically gravitate to art. Although as adults we may perceive their early attempts as just a mess, messes are to be encouraged! They often start with finger painting or pasting, or just ripping up paper. When they're very small, there's not much coordination of fine muscle skills. Children may well control a pencil or crayon from their shoulder, the whole hand gripping the implement as it scores lovely colours over your freshly painted wall. But this is their incipient creativity unfolding its wings. Drawing helps your kids get used to new textures, develop fine motor skills, learn how paint and paper move, and hence help locate themselves in space. And of course, these are some of the first tentative steps at expressing their ideas, experiences and  thoughts. What's most important is that they explore this creativity without limits or boundaries. When your kids are launching into this marvellous new world, we believe it is important to give them good quality materials for their journey. Our Stockmar Wax Crayons, for example, meet the highest artistic standards. They are completely non-toxic and won’t harm your health or the environment. Used in Steiner schools around the world for their brilliant and translucent colours, the pure beeswax gives the colours a natural transparency similar to that of watercolours. Your kids will love them.
We have a range of wonderful pencils as well, for those budding artists to get to work, such as the Ferby and Superferby ranges. Our Lyra Rainbow pencils, which draw in four vibrant colours at once, turn your children's words and drawings into rainbows. There are plenty of ways to get your kids interested in making their own art, and these will help them on their journey.