By its very nature, art is a subject that’s very open to interpretation. There are almost as many methods, techniques, and mediums to teach as there are children to teach them to! And, just like art itself, the idea of teaching art is pretty wide open. There are no set rules, and the options are limitless.

With that in mind, it’s not a bad idea to have some kind of strategy in mind before introducing a child to a new arts and crafts project. This goes double for a classroom environment, where one must instruct a number of children in a very limited amount of time. Planning is key!

Here are five of my top tips to get you started with teaching art to children:

1. Make every minute count.
One of the biggest challenges faced by art teachers all around the world is time. A 30-minute class goes by pretty quickly when you factor in setup, clean up, and any time that it takes to get the class focused and on-task. It’s important to develop systems that work; for instance, instead of having dozens of children line up to wash their hands in the sink, provide a wash tub with dozens of damp sponges for hand washing and simply rinse the sponges between classes.

2. Don’t use pencils (unless it’s actually a sketching project.)
Kids will spend more time erasing than drawing, if you give them the option! So why not just give them pencils without erasers? Because there’s another downside to pencils: children tend to draw very small when they’re working with the fine lines of a pencil’s lead. That becomes a problem when it comes time to paint or color the sketch! It’s better to start with markers that have large points, smudge sticks, or other supplies that involve less detailed work.

3. Be encouraging and inspiring.
Fostering a creative mind takes a lot of positivity and reinforcement. It’s also super important to teach kids that it’s okay to make mistakes! When you’re demonstrating art techniques to children, let them see your mistakes, and let them see how you turn those mistakes into something else. A finished piece of artwork looks “difficult” to anyone, but when kids see that a lot of mess-ups happen on the way to getting that finished piece, art becomes a lot more accessible.

4. Find age-appropriate projects (and overlap them throughout the day!)
Of course, you’ll always want to make sure that the projects you choose fit with the children you’re teaching. Because of that time factor (you know, never having enough of it!), you’ll probably want to find projects that can overlap from one class to the next regardless of age groups. Cleaning up and swapping out supplies between classes is just more time wasted!

5. Choose fun projects!
This may be the most important tip of them all: make sure that your little students are being challenged, but that they’re also having a good time! Choose projects that look hard but are actually simple when you get down to it. These sorts of “artistic conquests” can really boost a child’s confidence!