Art therapy can be attributed to one of the most unusual and interesting areas that exist in practical psychotherapy and psychology today. Rich in methods, it is able to remove and eliminate the symptoms of various ailments, calm the soul and body, and also achieve positive changes in personal, emotional, intellectual and social development.
Not so long ago, this direction began to be practiced in kindergartens. Under art therapy is understood classes with children who are associated with various types of artistic creation. This article talks about what art therapy is in preschool and what benefits it can bring to preschoolers.
What is the use?
Various art classes help not only to reveal the creative potential of children, but also to form a correct worldview in them. Art therapy as a health-saving technology in a preschool educational institution is aimed at the development of attention, imagination, speech, memory, logic and thinking. With the help of fairy tales, drawing, dancing or music, you can help the child in self-expression: hyperactive switch to a more relaxed type of activity, and indecisive and timid - get rid of fear.
Thus, regular creative activities can save the child from mental stress and stress, teach him to be focused and attentive, and also form the skills of the baby to interact with each other and with adults.
Varieties and methods of art therapy
There are a huge number of areas of art therapy in preschool education, one of the most popular include:
- music therapy;
- dance therapy;
- laughter therapy;
- isotherapy;
- fairy tale therapy;
- color therapy;
- game therapy.
As a rule, in kindergarten all of the above types of art therapy are used in combination, which contributes to the comprehensive and full development of children. You can also use some art therapy technologies in the speech therapy group of the preschool educational institution. Each kindergarten has children with speech impairment. To work with such pupils, not only speech therapists work in kindergartens, but also art therapists are increasingly appearing in the state. To date, the problem of speech defects in preschool children has become especially urgent, since the number of such babies is growing at a tremendous pace. In this regard, in addition to using standard methods and techniques of speech therapy work, specialists began to use other methods aimed at eliminating speech defects in children and their overall development. Therefore, more and more often, specialists of children's institutions began to play the huge role of art therapy in the speech therapy group of the preschool educational institution. We suggest to consider each direction of art therapy separately, which are most popular in kindergartens.
Isotherapy
Probably every child likes to draw, so applying this type of art therapy to a preschool educational institution is not difficult. According to the drawing of the baby, the specialist can determine his emotional and mental state. Sometimes parents may notice that their child from a certain moment begins to paint exclusively in dark colors. This suggests that at the moment the baby is experiencing a state of anxiety and tension, and the task of the parents is to find out the cause of his worries. Art therapy can significantly improve the condition of the baby.
Sand therapy
Many children like to build sand castles, Easter cakes and various other figures. Experts have proven that such entertainment has a positive effect on the emotional state of the child. The underlying idea of sand therapy is to get rid of psychological trauma during the game. Contact with the sand contributes to the formation of control over their inner motives and the development of imagination. Playing with sand helps the baby free himself from fears and express his feelings, so that this does not turn into psychological trauma. Sand therapy for children at Kindergarten has a beneficial effect: it helps kids become the most responsible in their actions and actions, gain a sense of control, increase self-esteem and gain faith in themselves. Playing in a free form, and not at anyone’s direction, helps the child express himself.
This kind of art therapy in a preschool educational institution is most suitable for preschool children. As a rule, babies of this age are characterized by difficulties in expressing their fears and feelings, and this arose mainly due to a poor supply of words, poor ideas, or insufficient development of the verbal apparatus. Sand therapy can be very useful, since non-verbal contact when using sand and plastic materials is a kind of small world where the kid himself sets his own rules, brings a certain character to life, comes up with various scenes related to fictional characters. During the game, everything that was hidden inside the child is released outside: the invented characters come to life, which express thoughts and feelings that are relevant to the baby. This method of art therapy does not provide for active contact with the child. On the contrary, in the process of art therapy in the work of a psychologist at a preschool educational institution or another specialist with certain knowledge, it is required to play the role of a spectator. What is important here is not leadership of the process, but active presence. During the game, the preschooler releases positive energy, which has a beneficial effect on his learning and development in general.
The experts revealed that this particular method of therapy helps to rehabilitate the child in the event of the loss of loved ones, beloved pets, as well as in connection with the transfer to another kindergarten, etc. In addition, it is noted that the teacher can correct the behavior of children who have a mental retardation or mild autism. This method requires a sandbox, a small amount of water, various toys and figures for sculpting from sand. In the process of training, the specialist should ask the child questions, trying to direct his actions in the right direction, thereby helping the baby control his emotions and adapt to the world around him.
Fairy tale therapy
Probably, many parents are aware of the importance of reading fairy tales to their children, because with the help of them the child gets acquainted with the outside world and learns the norms of behavior and interaction with people. This method of art therapy consists not only in reading books, but also in discussing the meaning, characters and their actions. In addition, art therapists advise children to compose fairy tales themselves, giving them one or more characters. Since children at this age love to make up stories, they will like such a session. In the process of fairy tale therapy, the teacher can draw a conclusion about the psychological state of the baby, based on the contents of the story of the child, his fictional characters and their actions. If certain problems are identified using fairy tales, a specialist can help the baby. For example, naughty children are told tales in which, with good behavior, they are hugged, praised, etc. It is this approach that helps to correct the behavior of a preschooler, because every kid wants attention to be praised and appreciated. But not every child at this age knows how to achieve what he wants in the right ways, sometimes children begin to behave irrationally to attract the attention of adults. Therefore, to help the child form the right behavior, you can use fairy-tale characters.
Music therapy
Most likely, each mother knows the wonderful properties of high-quality music, because therefore many of them include classical music even during pregnancy. For a nursery group, passive listening to the tunes of such composers as Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven is suitable. The fact is that it is classical music that is saturated with various emotions, in connection with this it is not difficult for a child to associate his own feelings with the sounds he has heard (joy, sadness, etc.). Experts advise older children not only to practice listening to musical compositions, but also to apply active methods of music therapy, for example, independent playing musical instruments. Even at home, mother is advised to practice music therapy as a concomitant method in modeling, drawing, and dancing. Unobtrusive and quiet music can be included during joint cooking or cleaning.
It is noted that passive listening to classical music helps to reduce the level of emotional stress, helps to get rid of stress and relax. Active music play enhances learning and communication skills, as well as awakens creativity. For example, children who attend a music school are more successful in the exact sciences and learning foreign languages.
Dance therapy
Dancing is not only an active entertainment for children, but also a pleasant way of healing. Even a perfectly healthy child will enjoy moving to music, having fun playing or just bouncing to the beat. The healing effects of dances have been known since ancient times, which were used in the expression of their feelings and emotions. Dance exercises help to develop a sense of rhythm and coordination of movement, relieve muscle tightness and get rid of nervous overloads, solve problems of physical inactivity.
The objectives of this method of art therapy in the preschool educational institution according to GEF are:
- development of creative abilities of preschoolers;
- strengthening the psychological and physical condition of children;
- improving the psychomotor abilities of babies;
- overcoming barriers in the communication of children with their peers;
- positive psychological dynamics of children with disabilities.
Puppet therapy
This technique is based on the identification of favorite characters from fairy tales or cartoons with the images of the child. Specialists apply puppet therapy if the baby has noticed various behavioral disorders, fear, problems in the development of the communicative sphere. The essence of this art therapy is that with a dear hero for the baby, a scene is played out in persons with a certain story. It is important for the teacher in the process of “directing the game” to ensure that the child compares himself with this character, and also shows sympathy, empathy and joy for him. The technology of art therapy in the preschool educational institution is to ensure that the story unfolds on an “increasing” basis, and at the same time, the emotional stress of the crumb should increase.
In a theatrical performance, it is important to observe several rules: the story must have a beginning, a climax where something threatens the main character, and the denouement when the hero wins. The end of the scene should always be positive so that the child after the story feels relieved. Thus, the technology of this method of art therapy with children in the preschool educational institution is expressed in increasing the emotional stress that the child experiences throughout the session to such an extent that it can smoothly transition into a new form - relaxation.
Finally
Art therapy for preschoolers is a very important area that helps the child to stop being shy, to find their personality and adapt to new conditions. Recently, pre-school educational institutions have begun to actively introduce innovative forms and methods of children's health. Today, art treatment is one of the most effective and affordable, among many other non-traditional methods that allow solving a complex of tasks and problems facing teachers.