ST. MARTIN — Put away the gaming consoles and cell phones this summer — it’s no secret that encouraging your children to participate in art holds many benefits and plays an important role in development.

Those benefits include motor skills, language development, visual learning, cultural awareness, and decision making to name a few. So why put your child’s creativity on hold until school starts back up in August? Chatfield College is offering two, age-specific Art for Children classes as part of its summer enrichment lineup.

The Art for Children classes will be broken down into two age groups: ages 6 through 9 and ages 10 through 13. In the younger class, the students will create a variety of works including painting, print-making, 3D arts and more. The older students will guide their own projects, and explore drawing, painting, sculpture, and fabric art.

Natasha Coldiron, Fayetteville Elementary’s art and technology teacher, will be teaching both classes. Earning a bachelor’s from Ohio State University in fine art, she enjoys sharing her passion with the students.

“I encourage parents to register their children for these fun classes, where the kids will get to do projects they normally would not be able to in regular school art classes,” Coldiron said.

The cost for each summer enrichment course at Chatfield is $40 (plus a $10 fee for materials for younger class; and a $15 fee for materials for older class). To register or to view other enrichment classes available this summer, please visit www.chatfield.edu/summerenrichment or call 513-875-3344. Check out the schedule and you may find a course for yourself.

The weekly Art for Children classes go for six weeks starting the first full week in June through July 10.

Chatfield College is a private, faith-based, liberal arts college offering the Associate of Arts degree in Brown County. It is an open enrollment college.

The Brown County campus is located at 20918 State Route 251, St. Martin.