How Playing With Clay Helps In The Development Of A Child?

20 Jan How Playing With Clay Helps In The Development Of A Child?

Clay is a material that can be molded into an endless number of shapes and forms. It comes with surprising textures and gives the best in a palette of soft and robust colors. Playing with clay is fun—regardless of your age! You can poke it, squish it, roll it, mold it, punch it, pile it, or shape it. It is a therapy for grown-ups and a cognitive development tool for kids. As it comes in various colors, it is helpful in the development of cognitive skills like boosting creativity and imagination—visual communication and affecting psychological reactions, improving learning experiences, etc. Moreover, clay modeling provides therapeutic benefits for kids and plays a crucial role in a child’s education. 

Read on to learn more about how playing with clay benefits your child’s development.

1. It Improves Hand-Eye Coordination Skills

Hand-Eye coordination is a cognitive ability where both our visual and motor skills work in coordination where the optical inputs provided by the eye are used to control the hands in performing a task. For instance, catching a ball, picking something up, reading and writing, playing a video game, etc., all need hand-eye coordination. 

Moreover, having good hand-eye coordination improves a child’s agility, handwriting, and athleticism. Encouraging a child to play with clay helps them to engage the muscles in their hands and arms. 

2. Helps In Sensory Development

Clay is a loose, soft, moisture-laden, earthy material with a distinct earthy smell. Playing with clay helps in the sensory development of kids, like touch, smell, and even sound; for instance, when you throw it with impact on the wall or floor, it creates and subtle distinct sound. It can be configured in any shape and form. Children can add extra moisture by adding little water and kneading it to make any shape or form they like.

3. Increases Attention Span

Playing with clay increases the attention span of children. This squashy and poky material is fun to play with as it is very engaging, and not only kids but adults are also drawn to experimenting with it. A kid can play with it for hours, even without adult interference. Such is the fun level and engagement with clay. This increased focus in doing things will later on benefit him in his studies by making him focus better and for a longer time.

4.  Encourages Trial And Error

The process of learning involves making mistakes and errors and learning from them. When a kid is in the developmental stage, he is a curious soul. He wants to try and experiment with everything, and if the thing is clay, then what best than this for him? So he plays with the clay by molding it into any shape using his imagination and experimenting with trial and error. Since a child is more comfortable making mistakes while using clay, he is more likely to learn better.

5. Boosts Self-Esteem

Creating something with self-imagination out of zero is very self-encouraging and boots the children’s self-esteem. They are making mistakes while playing with the clay, laughing at them, correcting them, experimenting with the shape, showcasing it, and most importantly, accepting it. Kids feel proud of themselves when they achieve something on their own. It boosts their self-esteem and helps shape their personality as they grow up.

Summary

When given a portion of pottery clay or polymer clay, most kids are instinctively motivated to delve into its soft and sensory qualities. They poke it, pound it down, and so on. And each time they do it, clay responds accordingly. Adults might not find these changes as fascinating as kids do. However, they notice every little change they make to clay and record its responsiveness. This change shapes their learning experience. Clay stimulates the child’s curiosity.

Moreover, Intelligence, imagination, and creativity are engaged and fostered. When a child engages with clay’s immediate tactile and visual feedback, new neurons and synapses in the brain are generated. For instance, eye-hand coordination is fostered, imagination is boosted, self-esteem increases and more development occurs. So, in conclusion, clays are your child’s best friend that helps him in his cognitive and other skill development.