Creativity during school holidays

Art making is proven to help calm the nervous system. The quote below by Weinstein helps to illustrate this.

“As you engage in drawing or painting a repetitive pattern, or sew a line, the brain falls into a sense of predictability, which lowers our nervous system’s need to be on edge as it prepares to react to the next surprise event. This consequently lowers blood pressure, pulse and heart rate, and reduces anxiety, offering the brain a lot more capacity to decide with clarity.”  (Weinstein, 2022).

School holidays can be a really tricky time for both children and their parents/carers. The usual sense of routine comes to a halt and that can feel very unsettling.

If your child enjoys creativity, why not plan in a time weekly during the holidays where you can make art together around the kitchen table? It doesn’t have to be anything extravegant. Some ready mix paints or water colours perhaps, or my all time favourite… air doh! This can be built into the weekly routine during the school holidays whilst having the added benefit of helping your child to self-regulate ir they’re feeling unsettled by a lack of structure due to school being out for summer.