The Art of using Art for Cognitive Development of Kids

Author: Faisal Syed

Published on: 5 October 2023

NacFun strongly encourages parents to encourage their children to participate in art activities. At NacFun, we recognize the power of art and how it can help children develop cognitive skills in a variety of ways. Cognitive abilities include problem-solving, critical thinking, memory, spatial awareness, and other mental abilities. Here are some ways that art might help children acquire these skills:

Creativity and Imagination: Art teaches youngsters to think creatively and imaginatively. They must generate ideas for their artwork, which may entail thinking outside the box and experimenting with unique solutions to artistic issues.

Fine Motor Skills: Drawing, painting, cutting, and sculpting are common art forms that demand perfect hand-eye coordination and fine motor abilities. These activities aid in the development of children's physical dexterity and hand control.

Visual-Spatial Skills: Art activities such as sketching and painting necessitate a concept of spatial connections, proportions, and perspective. Children learn to draw things and scenes in two dimensions, which improves their spatial awareness.

Problem-Solving: Creative problem-solving is frequently required in artistic endeavors. A child, for example, may need to learn how to mix colors to produce a desired shade or how to make a specific texture with available materials.

Critical Thinking: Children learn to analyze their options and make selections depending on their goals when making artistic decisions. They may need to assess what works best for a specific art and drawing project, which aids in the development of critical thinking abilities.

Memory Enhancement: Art, drawing and painting activities can help children's memory by pushing them to remember the methods and skills they've mastered. Repetition and practice in painting can help to improve memory retention.

Patience and concentration: Working on complicated or time-consuming pieces of art and sketching often necessitates constant focus and patience. This helps children improve their capacity to concentrate and persevere in the face of adversity.

Self-Expression and Communication: Art, drawing, painting allows kids and youth to communicate their thoughts, emotions, and ideas in a nonverbal way. It encourages children to communicate in methods other than words, which can help them express themselves more successfully.

Emotional Intelligence: Children can explore and process their emotions via all types of art including drawing, sketching, and painting. Making art can be therapeutic, allowing children to better express and comprehend their emotions, which aids in the development of emotional intelligence.

Multi-Sensory Learning: Art frequently engages numerous senses, such as sight, touch, and, in some cases, smell or taste. This multisensory experience has the potential to improve overall cognitive development.

Social Skills: Children acquire social skills such as teamwork, communication, and the capacity to give and receive constructive feedback when they participate in group art activities or share their creations with others.

Cognitive Flexibility: Art stimulates experimentation and the exploration of new ideas. Children learn that there are frequently several solutions to a creative problem, which fosters cognitive flexibility and adaptability.

In conclusion, art of all types including drawing, painting, sketching, caricature, mandala art etc., provides a rich and complex learning experience that can positively benefit a child's cognitive development. It promotes creativity and critical thinking by stimulating multiple cognitive processes and providing a platform for self-expression and discovery. Encourage your children and kids around you to participate in artistic pursuits as part of their entire educational and developmental journey.

Technology Combats Children's Growing Non-Essential Screen Time Caused By Technology

Author: Faisal Syed

Published on: 29 September 2023

Let us recognize that there is no way to avoid screen time. Screens have become an indispensible element of our daily lives in the digital age. There are numerous advantages to having smartphones, tablets, televisions, and computers around us. It's difficult to imagine living a life without screens nowadays. Because of variables such as virtual learning, improved access to devices, and the appeal of online entertainment, the screen time epidemic has become more prominent. On the other side, there is now enough scientific study data to label excessive screen time as a "Screen Time Epidemic." Excessive screen usage, especially among youngsters, can have major effects for their health and overall development.

Physical Health Hazards

Sedentary Lifestyle: Excessive screen usage significantly affects children's physical activity owing to prolonged periods of sitting. Children are spending less time outside, participating in physical activities, or simply moving about. Obesity, cardiovascular issues, and poor muscular development in children occur from a high level of physical inactivity. Sleep Disruption: Screen blue light interferes with the generation of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep. This can cause sleep problems in children, such as trouble falling and staying asleep, exhaustion, and difficulty concentrating when awake.

Vision Problems: The digital eye strain results to discomfort of eyes, headaches, and irreversible vision problems such as near sightedness.

Mental Health Hazards

Cognitive Development: Excessive screen usage in children can result in delayed or impaired cognitive ability development, affecting their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Attention Issues: The continual stimulation from screens can make it difficult for youngsters to focus on tasks that need sustained attention, and it has been related to attention issues such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Behavioural Hazards: Excessive screen usage has been linked to behavioral difficulties in youngsters, such as increased aggression, frustration, and difficulty following instructions, according to research.

Addiction: Children can become addicted to screens, which can lead to problems such as withdrawal symptoms while not using screens and neglecting other important activities such as homework and chores.

Social Hazards

Reduced Social Interaction: Children exposed to excessive screen time often lack face-to-face interaction and may struggle with social skills and developing meaningful relationships.

Decreased Empathy: Constant screen time, particularly on social media, might desensitize children to other people's pain and reduce their capacity for empathy.

Cyberbullying: The internet environment facilitates cyberbullying, which can have severe consequences for a child's self-esteem and mental health.

Age-Inappropriate Content Exposure: Unsupervised screen usage frequently exposes children to harmful content, which can cause uncertainty, anxiety, or desensitization to violence and inappropriate behavior.

Parental Intervention and Solutions

Experts advise parents and caregivers to take proactive steps to mitigate the hazards of excessive screen time for children,

Set Screen Time Limits: Establish clear rules and limits for screen time, considering age-appropriate guidelines. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 1 to 2 hours of recreational screen time per day for children aged 2 to 18. Use tools and parental control software to enforce these limits.

Encourage Outdoor Play: Promote physical activity and outdoor play to counteract sedentary screen time. Engaging in sports and outdoor activities can boost physical fitness and social interaction. Engage in family outings, sports, or nature hikes to balance screen time with physical exercise.

Screen-Free Zones: Designate certain areas of the house, such as the dining room or bedrooms, as screen-free zones to encourage family interaction and better sleep hygiene.

Model Healthy Behavior: Children learn by observing their parents. Be a positive role model by managing your own screen time and demonstrating a healthy balance between online and offline activities.

Quality Content: Engage in discussions with your children about what they are watching or playing. Encourage them to consume educational and age-appropriate content when they do use screens. Help children choose content wisely.

Technology to rescue from screen time

Despite the screen-time-reduction techniques offered by experts, parents continue to face the issue of disciplining themselves and applying these strategies. Recognizing the difficulties that parents encounter in reducing their children's non-essential screen time consumption, online activity platforms such as NacFun provide parents with the means to engage their children in fun physical after-school activities.

NacFun is a social interactive gamified DIY platform that uses today's children's video-venture-viral tendency to involve them in fun co-scholastics, scholastics, fun-sports, and PE activities. Children are motivated to perform, record, and upload for teacher evaluation to be recognized by their peers. While participating in these activities, NacFun programming considers that children's behavior should not change dramatically. As a result, most of the activities assigned to children can be completed in their room or indoors.

While children's participation on NacFun begins with a limited screen time to watch an activity to complete, it then sends them away to rehearse, perform, and upload their performance. Thus, a few minutes of screen time causes children to stay active for several hours afterwards. To keep youngsters motivated, the NacFun Screen Time Reduction Leader Board displays their rank in relation to the amount of screen time they avoided by keeping physically active and participating in NacFun activities.

While screens are an indispensable aspect of modern life, parents and caregivers must be aware of the dangers of excessive screen time for children. To safeguard children's holistic development, they must apply expert-recommended ways to reduce screen time for youngsters. To establish a healthy balance between screen time and physical activity time, parents and caregivers should look back at the technologies that created excessive screen time and employ creative platforms like NacFun to combat the screen time menace.