Art therapy—a quickly-growing field that combines psychotherapy with visual art—is a brilliant way to help children (and adults) hone their self expression, develop their self esteem, and create healthy coping mechanisms. As you can imagine, the benefits of art for mental health are great and far reaching.
The American Art Therapy Association defines ‘art therapy’ as creative expression that can overcome the limitations of language. This makes it a huge advantage for young children in particular, who have yet to develop the language skills and understanding to really be able to articulate how they’re feeling emotionally and mentally.
In other words, if it’s too difficult or confusing for a child to say aloud or write down, then drawing, painting, sculpting, or crafting can be an outlet for communicating feelings. Many times, emotions that are difficult to say are easier to express through images.
“Artwork can speak volumes for a child, beyond communicating through speech.”
– Spramani Elaun, Nurturing Children in the Visual Arts Naturally
I do want to note that ‘art therapy,’ in its true form, can only be provided by a trained and licensed professional. In this post, my goal is not to give out medical or psychotherapeutic advice, instead, I want to share the ways I’ve seen art—based on my own experience and observations—help children work through their emotional feelings and mental health challenges. Remember, it’s best to follow your schools safety procedures, and report sensitive information to a qualified professional or your admin.
Mental Health Benefits of Art
There are several very general mental health benefits of art. First and foremost, it gives children the chance to process and express their feelings and get into creative flow states. It also allows them to communicate on multiple levels—visually, tactilely, and kinesthetically. Here are a few other ways art can lead to positive mental health experiences.
Opportunities for self-discovery
Creating art in any form can open the floodgates to a child’s emotions and subconscious feelings. As they go through the art making process, they might encounter thoughts, beliefs, or assumptions about themselves or their world, they weren’t aware of before.
Increased self esteem
One reason positive art talk is so important in the classroom and beyond is because it helps build up a child’s self esteem. When a child creates something, they get a feeling of self accomplishment. Being encouraged through the artistic process can help them build up their confidence.
Emotional release
Making art is a healthy outlet for expressing feelings like happiness, sadness, and fear. When a child is unable to express these emotions or thoughts that are swirling in their minds, art can be their release. Without them even realizing, they may work out complex feelings and leave them in their artwork. An emotional release can also bring kids a sense of calm.
Stress relief
Mental health challenges, like anxiety and depression, can take a physical toll on little ones. It creates acute stress which often has physical repercussions. Using art as a form of stress relief is a healthy way for children to relax—both their minds and bodies.
Improved mood
Art making can be an effective way to improve children’s moods. The sensory aspect of creating art is not only calming, but it also stimulates the release of dopamine, which can make a child feel happier. Regular art making can also be used as a coping strategy.
Where to Start: 3 Art Activities to Boost Mental Health
Art Journaling
Journaling gives students a healthy outlet to express their feelings and work through their emotions. Students can use art journals to document what happened to them that day or week, or artistically express the different feelings or issues they’re experiencing.
[To learn more about how art journals work and for a how-to for making an art journal, read: Montessori Art in the Natural World: Kids Art Journaling, How to Teach Nature Journaling, and Kids Nature Journal Color Lessons.]
Collaging
Collaging can often be centering and provide a calm space for self-discovery. Encourage children to explore their feelings, thoughts, dreams, and goals and express them using magazines. Have them glue the images that they’re drawn to to pieces of paper. You can also give them colored pencils or soft pastels to further personalize their works.
Tactile Clay Modeling
Clay modeling can relieve stress because touching clay induces stimulating neural inputs from many of our sensory systems. When children start touching and forming, the actions are considered active learning. The electrical activity stimulated in their brain becomes a different type of action, firing connections and allowing children to focus on their handiwork only. Start with simple clay modeling exercises, and experiment with the many types of clay available for children, such as non-harden, air dry, and pottery clay.
One Step Further: Register for the FREE Combating Stress with Mandalas Workshop
It’s no secret that children are facing more stress than usual in today’s world, so learning to manage stress is even more important; it’s essential to their mental health. Doodling and coloring can have a huge positive impact on children’s stress levels—and creating and coloring mandalas, in particular, can be incredibly helpful.
If you want more artistic tools to help support your students through stressful situations and circumstances, sign up for my free workshop, Combating Stress with Art. I’m partnering with Montessori teacher, Kristen Richter, to talk about the emotional literacy cycle and share therapeutic art activities you can use in your classroom.
To sign up and save your spot for Combating Stress with Art, click here.
A Short Cut Just for You
If you’d like to learn more about all the benefits art offers to children, read my book, Defining Visual Arts. It provides art literacy standards and gives you a guide to what you should be teaching your students. The book also includes tips for using artistic language, choosing the best art mediums, and putting together art projects for kids of different ages.
It’s truly a solid foundation to help you teach art in your classroom (in a way that’s stress-free for you, and exciting and fun for your students!). To purchaseA Defining Visual Arts, click here.
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