Oh I surely would! I’d absolutely want to encourage any child with that sort of intrinsic motivation to pursue their passion! And as an early childhood educator, I’d encourage parents to consider such a device as almost ideal gifts. (Like anything else, you as parent set the limits. Personally, I’d limit games but some are terrific.) Also, there are rebuilt iPads that can cut the cost some.
The only reason one might hesitate in doing so might be the assumption that a child might not take care of the machine. All it would take is a little patient instruction and adult insistence and that child would be just as likely as anyone else to take care of their machine!
My brother is a professional graphic designer and has used his Macs to further his career.
It really is not a matter of either/or but rather an extension of that interest in art. There are a lot of things I can do better on an iDevice and others that I can’t. Involvement in one doesn’t preclude the other.
If you were to take sketching for instance. Any artist will likely improve from practice- be it with an Apple Pencil or with a graphite pencil. They are still picking up essentially the same skill in that case. The pencils can pick up on pressure, you can shade, no matter if it is the modern device or the one that the masters used. In fact, I enjoy the Apple Pencil as it is nice because it glides some. (There’s an inexpensive “Bluetooth Finder” app which will track your Apple Pencil.)
I might even be able to venture into more mediums which are covered by the art apps. Art supplies can get very expensive, very fast. If you are exposed to pastels eg and appreciate them, then they’d certainly warrant looking into getting a nice set.
I can only see marvelous things happening with the use of an iDevice as an art machine. With the way DaVinci experimented, he might very well embrace a modern machine which could have assisted him in his artistic pursuits.
For the life of me I cannot think of any bad habits that might be picked up on a device and not on art manipulatives. Someone mentioned erasing… well, either way you can use an eraser, incorporate an error, paint over it…
As I mentioned, there are schools that are teaching keyboarding but not printing which is rather absurd. Well, an Apple Pencil would certainly help a first grader with manipulating a graphite pencil which is a necessary skill for both writing and drawing.
Furthermore, there are a host of other activities for a iDevice and a youngster. Maybe you don’t have time to read the same story over and over and over. Your Ipad won’t mind at all and can fill in if you are not available. (You could record yourself reading a story.)
All that artwork covers essential skills which helps a child in their development to be successful learners in other areas.
