Giving The Budding Artist A Digital Palette (NAPSA)—Childhood is a time ra when imagination has no limit. Children view the world as full of endless possibilities and adventures. Parents can help inspire and encouragethat creativity in a numberof ways: 1. Overcoming Drawing Challenges. Drawingis a great way for children to explore their self-expression. Ongoing practice also helps to strengthen fine motor skills. Parents can encourage their children through drawing challenges such as tracing, writing letters and numbers, drawing shapes and other familiar objects, or even imitating what mom or dad draws. 2. Being Michelangelo. Children are inspired by the world around them. They don’t have to sit in one room when they work on their masterpiece. It can happen while on the go, like sketching in a park or in the car. For a new twist, tape a piece of paper underneath a table and have kids draw on it to imitate how Michelangelo completed his work on the Sistine Chapel. 3. Discovering Arts & Crafts. The Internet is a great resource to find arts-and-crafts projects for children. Whetherit’s online coloring or connect the dots, these activities help develop the foundation of creative play. For example, the Fisher-Price Web site has a number of choices for kids to explore their creative side, including a crafts-forkids section filled with fun painting and drawing exercises. A new digital interface lets kids create, save and print their own arts-and-crafts projects. 4. Becoming Digital Artists. It’s easy to transform a home computerinto an arts studio with the help of toys like the FisherPrice Digital Arts & Crafts Studio. A new digital interface makes it easy and secure for kids to create, save and print hundreds of creative activities with child-friendly “tools.” Budding artists can turn the stylus into a pencil tool, paintbrush or crayon. They can use a stamperto color pages or create greeting cards or other unique design projects. Kids can even create their own books or turn digital photos into backgrounds. If parents are looking for something little less high tech, there are a number of other mess-free, on-the-go drawing tools for kids. Examples include the Fisher-Price Doodle Pro”, which features a large magnetic drawing board, and the cool new Light Sketcher”, which actually lets kids draw with light. To learn more, visit www.fisher-price.com.
