Want your kids to love animals? Here’s how art can help  

While connecting city kids to the animal world has always been an uphill task, the pandemic has made matters worse. Watching animals on TV can be entertaining, but there is no personal connect with a whale on Discovery or a tiger family on National Geographic. On the other hand, you might have noticed how serious kids can be about imaginary animals from cartoons! That is the power of art. It creates a bridge between the artist and audience and makes the audience share the artist’s emotions.  

You can use this power too, through art, to help your kids love the non-human residents of this planet. Here are our tips on how to do it.  

Expose kids to art that shows animals  

Watching Lion King, Happy Feet or Ice Age is still a great idea for getting kids to bond with animals. These animation movies are good examples of both art and empathy. The animals in them have values close to humans, they talk, and their emotions strongly resonate with children. From there, go a bit higher and show them paintings of humans with pets. Encourage them to now draw or photograph themselves with an animal, it could be a pet, a stray cat or dog, or a bird.  

Encourage them to observe animals and draw what they see  

The results of this experiment, depending on age and level of expertise, can range from a detailed sketch of a pigeon or a few lines indicating an ant on the kitchen rack. Whatever it may be, encourage them to observe animals carefully; maintaining a safe distance of course. Their art needs to reflect this observation to begin with, and then their skill.  

Enrol kids into online cartooning and doodling classes  

Online classes have made learning to draw animals easy and enjoyable as a step by step learning process. Cartooning can lead to animation, and doodling to a number of forms, including designing. These classes also provide worksheets, games and stories around animals.  

Get your kids some animal prints and soft toys 

Animal print bed sheets and accessories such as table lamps and bags are popular with even teens. Soft toys also never go out of fashion. These gifts create a bonding with animals and inspire young artists to think of applied arts.