Art activities develop both large and small muscles.

Large motor development:

• large muscles in the arms, legs, neck, and trunk develop first
• by the time the child reaches preschool, he will be able to use large muscles quite well
• painting with a brush on a large piece of paper is good practice
• only first developing large muscles that a child can begin to develop small motor skills

Small motor development:

• small muscles in fingers, hands, and wrist are used in art activities such as painting, cutting, pasting, and clay modeling
• small muscle exercise develops fine motor control
• can grow stronger only by practice and exercise

Hand-eye coordination:

• ability to use hand(s) and eyes at the same time
• important for future school work
• it is believed that good hand-eye coordination helps a child learns to read because he needs to hold a book with both hands and using eyes to read from left-right