Given a healthy environment and the guidance of nurturing adults, children spontaneously express themselves through the arts. No one has to tell young children that creative expression is fun, and that it makes you feel good about yourself and the world. Pre-schoolers and kindergartners draw and paint, play with clay, build and construct, act, dance and sing with great enthusiasm. When I was training teachers, my work included observing young children in classrooms throughout the United States, from inner-city ghettos to rural farm areas. These were children of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Drawing comes before writing in a child's development.
In fact, art therapy is used with children who cannot verbalize their feelings. What cannot be spoken can often be expressed more safely in art. And even when a child is articulate, sometimes words are not enough. Watching a child release bottled-up rage or fear with crayons or clay is a profoundly moving experience. It is no accident, then that the Inner Child also expresses its feelings and needs more easily through art.