The word “educational” makes a lot of people cringe. It conjures up images of heaping plates of broccoli, of having to clean your room, or cut the grass. It makes us think of being chained to a school desk, scribbling the same facts over and over again, and being lectured to. In short, it makes people think of things they have to do because they’re good for them, but that they don’t particularly want to do.

Okay, so they don’t play well in fancy museums, and they’re more interested in using art books to build forts than they are in reading them. They love to colour outside the lines, and they include new ways to mess up their room in their definition of creativity. Don’t be fooled, though! There are rich, captivating discussions to be had with your children about art, and diving in can yield a whole lot of benefits.