Art Therapy - Clandon Park Nursery

CLANDON PARK NURSERY

What is art therapy?

Children may be having a serious case of the feels these days—from sadness and anxiety to feeling disconnected, lonely, and bored. And no wonder after the recent Co-vid 19 pandemic. At Clandon Park Nursery, Our early educators (staff) will include art therapy activities to help children identify and manage their emotions in a calm, friendly and fun atmosphere.

The science behind Art therapy- It is a therapeutic process that integrates psychotherapy and art. It can support children to explore their emotions, improve self-esteem, relieve stress, and ease anxiety and depression.

When children are stuck in ‘feeling,’states, they are in the right hemisphere, low in the brain, and it’s hard to climb out of. When children use their hands to make art, they trigger the left hemisphere to come back inline. Meanwhile, they are making an internal emotion into an external piece of art, which can help them to identify and manage their feelings. Children through art open up and talk about what is going on in their lives and talk through problems to find solutions, with the support of our Early Educators, children often do not even realise that this is happening, they are simply having fun!

An example of how art therapy activities support the children.

Making Collages

Creating Collages

Is a very therapeutic activity with a two-fold benefit. The physical sensation of handling different materials and textures—soft, scratchy, rigid—is very comforting. And the creative process of putting things together in a new and different way helps organise and calms the brain.

Making masks

In art therapy, creating or decorating a mask often leads to exploring different aspects of children’s personality. Sometimes we can create a mask that reveals feelings that are hard to express. Having the opportunity for your child to decorate a pre-formed mask or make one out of paper and can give them free rein to embellish it however they like. When they are finished, we can ask them to tell us the story of the mask. This is where the talking really begins and staff can support the children to understand their feelings and why they feel this way, even if it is happiness, sadness or even anger just having the opportunity to talk and express it can really make a difference.