Art club members are the minds behind school plays, new murals, attractive logos, and unique yearbook designs. These clubs are fun and exciting, but they also give your child a creative outlet to explore their interests or discover new ones.
Understanding the benefits of taking art classes or participating in clubs can help you encourage your child to look for these exciting opportunities and become a well-rounded individual. As your student collaborates with peers, uncovers new mediums, and refines their skills, they develop a more profound sense of themselves and recognize healthy and fun ways to release their feelings and communicate their thoughts.
4 Benefits of Art Clubs
Art clubs are common in traditional schools, and many students enjoy attending after-school meetings or visiting with fellow artists during study halls. These clubs give students creative freedom and encourage new conversations about complex thoughts and feelings.
Both traditional and online schools such as CCA offer plenty of opportunities to spark creativity and prompt students to become aware of their emotions and bring them to life in new ways. The benefits of participating in school art clubs include:
1. Awareness and Development
Art enables children to think about their feelings, experience, and bodies. As your student learns to depict their emotions, they become aware of the complex thoughts they’re experiencing. Furthermore, they become aware of others’ feelings.
Art instructors may describe the ideas and meanings behind different pieces, and children start to understand that a picture speaks a thousand words. Kids can begin to think beyond themselves, become curious about other people and cultures, and link what they learn to their own experiences.
As your child becomes more self-aware, they’ll also be improving their fine motor skills. Learning to hold brushes and draw precise lines is challenging for younger children and toddlers. When they draw, finger paint, work with clay, or color, they’re training their muscles and learning to hold objects correctly.
2. Creativity
The beauty of art is that anything can fall under that umbrella category. Every single object in this world can be a piece of art or made into one. Art is a form of expression and a release of emotions, and children’s art clubs encourage young students to find new ways of expressing themselves.
Whether your student draws, paints, writes, sings, creates sculptures, molds clay, carves wood, drafts screenplays, or whittles soap, they’re actively releasing thoughts and feelings into their creations. The more classes they take, the more mediums they become familiar with and the more experience they gain to enhance their skills further.
3. Decision-Making
From the very beginning of the process, artists must make decisions about what they want to create. They begin with an idea and continue to determine what steps to take next. They have to evaluate the paint color, line positions, perspectives, meanings, details, and, occasionally, whether they want to start all over again.
Art is a process, and throughout that process, art-makers must make decisions that affect their project’s outcome. Younger children go through the same stream of consciousness that older students do, but as they grow, their internal process becomes much more complex as they fine-tune their skills. As they make mistakes and discover what they like and what they don’t, students learn the consequences of their actions and how to become more strategic.
4. Socialization
Similar to other clubs, art clubs provide students the opportunity to make friends and strengthen relationships. Along with bonding with peers, your student can discuss strategies, explore new mediums, and come up with team projects to complete. Socialization through clubs is particularly beneficial for online learners, who gain a new way to bond and interact with their peers.
Research has shown that children who participate in the arts are better at emotion regulation. For example, dancers are more likely to collaborate with others and show less aggression. Toddlers who engage with the arts daily show improvements in negative and positive emotion regulation. Children who engage in classroom art opportunities are more likely to be independent and cooperative.
Art Club Opportunities at Cyber School
Online schools offer artistic opportunities for students, but they may look different than those in traditional brick-and-mortar institutions. However, online students still engage in art activities and can learn to draw, explore films or music, create projects, and bond with peers.
Students have to be more independent when they participate in art clubs online. While some students thrive in a private environment, many others enjoy the push from instructors. Students struggling to complete a piece will need to take the necessary steps to get additional instruction or seek creative means to overcome their challenges, giving them more control over their outcomes.
Commonwealth Charter Academy offers a variety of art clubs available to all students:
- Arts and Crafts Club is for kindergarteners through eighth-graders to explore core subjects while making crafts and choosing their projects.
- Broadcast and Theatre Arts Club is open for students in sixth grade and above. These members learn about set designs and can broadcast story segments.
- Movie Club is open to all students K-12, where learners explore special effects, music, and films.
- Music Club is open to K-12 learners, and members have the ability to create their instruments and perform in a virtual talent show.
How Do Creative Outlets Benefit Students?
When you engage in an activity that you enjoy, your body feels the benefits, makes you happier and calmer, and boosts your immune system. Creative outlets have immense mental benefits for students.
Benefits of creative outlets for learners include:
- Reducing stress and anxiety: Focusing on something you enjoy lowers stress levels and eases your mind.
- Boosting self-confidence: Students who make art have an improved sense of self-confidence as they master their skills, express themselves, and receive encouragement.
- Improving communication: Artists learn to portray words and feelings through images, movements, and stories and practice acting in different roles or understanding other people’s emotions.
- Developing a growth mindset: Children who work to improve their skills adopt a growth mindset that encourages lifelong improvement and lean toward extrinsic motivation.
- Providing a safe emotional release: Rather than acting out on negative emotions, artists pour their feelings into their art and turn negative emotions into something beautiful.
Regardless of the medium, art-making through a club is a place for your child to become a creative, expressive, and thoughtful person who learns to handle difficult emotions in a healthy way.
Join a CCA Art Club
Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA) models how schools should work. We want our learners to develop a passion for curiosity and feel confident in their abilities to try new things, seek experiences, and be prepared for life after graduation regardless of the path they choose.
We understand how art benefits children, which is why we’ve created clubs, over 900 field trips, various classes, and fun events that spark creativity and encourage students to explore their interests. CCA offers a range of art clubs and plenty of other interesting and engaging clubs for your student. We emphasize extracurricular activities to our learners because we want them to know their options and feel excited about new experiences.
Contact CCA and discover all of our exciting socialization opportunities for your child as they work through their customized education.
