Top 5 Reasons to Build Scale Models With Your Children
Sometimes it can be tricky to find hobbies for kids, especially those that parents can also participate in. Scale model building is a long-term, intricate and rewarding hobby that can be tackled by all ages with the right guidance. With a vast range of scale model cars, ships, planes, trains, motorbikes, and pop culture replicas, now is the perfect time for the younger generation to build scale models. If you’re looking for the best hobby for your children, here are five reasons that scale modeling should be top of your list!
By nurturing them through the build process, you can enable them to express their imagination and flare
Encourages Creativity
Kids can be incredibly creative, but sometimes they need something specific to focus on to really let their creativity fly. Scale models offer many opportunities for them to show off their personality, whether it’s how they put it together, how they paint it, or what extra details they add to the finished model to make it unique. By nurturing them through the build process, you can enable them to express their imagination and flare.
Develops Fine Motor and Problem-solving Skills
Whether they’re constructing a WW2 warplane, 17th century ship, RC car, or the Millennium Falcon, there are countless assembly techniques that your children can learn while building a scale model. Each new technique helps develop their hand-eye coordination and dexterity – vital for other early learning areas such as handwriting.
In addition, with so many different pieces and stages in a given build project, there are ongoing opportunities for you and them to problem solve. What piece goes here? How much glue do I need? Which paints should I use to match the original colours? By introducing basic problem solving at a young age, you set them up to be excellent critical thinkers in the future.
A Fun Educational Experience
The great thing about scale models like those offered by ModelSpace is that they are replicas of real objects or vehicles which have rich histories or stories behind them. If you build scale models with your child, you can teach them all about what makes their chosen car or ship so special, and introduce them to fascinating stories and facts that they might never have learnt. And the more they learn about the model and where it came from, the more passionate they can become about making their own version as authentic and detailed as possible.
Meaningful Bonding Time
As a parent, it can be tough to hold the attention of your children for more than 60 seconds. Social media and gaming are hugely popular, and aren’t exactly family-friendly activities. A recent survey of thousands of UK parents revealed that millions of children are spending up to 32 hours a week using technology, which has major implications for their family life, schooling, and overall development.
A recent survey of thousands of UK parents revealed that millions of children are spending up to 32 hours a week using technology
This is why introducing a hobby like scale modelling is so important – children need time away from screens to improve their concentration and long-term communication skills. In addition to better preparing them for the real world, scale model building gives you a chance to demonstrate your experience and skills to your young ones, and allows you to team up on something that you can both be proud of. With every completed project you have a physical example of what you and your kids can achieve when you work together, and loving memories that will last a lifetime.
Teaches the Benefit of Commitment and Hard Work
Attention spans seem to be shrinking, especially for the newer generations, with people less willing to have patience and commit to anything long-term. By building scale models with your children during their formative years, you can teach them how to approach projects in bite-sized pieces, and show them the rewards of patience, perseverance, and ongoing commitment to achieve their goals.
While not everybody’s cup of tea, scale modelling is one of the best hobbies for kids, with mass appeal and accessibility for adults and children alike. By building models with them from a young age you not only help them learn skills and attributes that will help them later in life, but you also get to spend meaningful time with them creating moments that will stay with you both forever.
Do you plan to build scale models with your kids, or have you already built some? Let us know in the comments, and share your build photos on our Facebook page!
Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3659513/Millions-children-missing-traditional-family-lifestyles-spend-32-HOURS-week-screen.html
