EXPLORING ART

1. EXPLORING ART • Lecture notes comprise of gathered information from the following areas: • Chapter 9. Dodge, Colker, & Heroman (2002). • Chapter 11. Mayesky (2006). • How art promotes development • Creating an environment for art • What children learn in art area • The teacher’s role • Developmental Levels & Art

2. HOW ART PROMOTES DEVELOPMENT • Social/Emotional Development • Natural vehicle for expression--thoughts and emotions are reflected through choices of color, texture, and media • Expression of individuality and originality • Physical Development • Development of fine motor skills by tearing, cutting, drawing, coloring, pasting, etc. • Cognitive/Language Development • Use thinking skills to plan, organize, and represent ideas into art • Learn about cause and effect (mixing colors) • Describe their work, ask and respond to questions about the art • Learn new words: sculpture, palette, clamp, etc.

3. CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR ART • Art areas must be organized in such a way that they are inviting while not overwhelming. • Teachers should select materials that children can: • Paint on (easel with paper, blacktop, etc.) • Paint with (brushes, finger paint, dyes, water) • Draw on (papers, chalkboard, sidewalk) • Draw with (crayons, markers, pencils, chalk) • Put things together with (glue, wire, nails, rubber bands, tape, etc.) • Cut with (scissors, saw, pumpkin carving knife) • Mold (clay play dough, putty, plaster of Paris) • Construct (wood, paper-mache, foil) • Clean up with (soap, detergent, mops, sponges, paper towels)

4. CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR ART • Painting materials (i.e., markers, crayons, chalk, chalkboards, and paper) • Have 2 easels to promote socializing • Best brushes are those with metal bands and no seams • Cutting and Pasting Materials • Should have left- and right-handed scissors • Glue should be water-based; glue sticks give children easy control over pasting process • Molding Materials • Clay, play dough, and other dough-like materials can be made in the classroom • Clay is viewed by educators as ideal medium (soft clay and baking clay) • Three-dimensional Art and Woodworking Materials • Assemblages: put together in many creative ways • Mobiles: hanging sculptures • Stabiles: freestanding mobiles (tip easily)

5. CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR ART • Displaying and storing art materials • Egg cartons: with edges taped together, can hold scissors • Ice cream containers: make good paper holders • Six-pack beverage containers: paint caddies • Plaster of Paris holder: for storing markers • Airtight containers: for clay or play dough • Empty yogurt containers: for glue or paste • Pegboard with hooks: can hand smocks or woodworking tools • Displaying children’s art • Treat artwork as if it were on display at a museum • Can create or buy frames • Art displays provide concrete documentation of what children have learned

6. WHAT CHILDREN LEARN IN THE ART AREA • Literacy • Expand vocabulary and language by being introduced to words that describe color, shape, space, texture, etc. • Children learn print by signing their names to their art • Mathematics/ Science • Children observe patterns • Explore geometry and spatial sense, measurement • Physical science is learned by mixing materials and observing changes • Balance is learned when creating a sculpture or mobile • Life science is incorporated when using leaves and flowers in artwork • Social studies • Children learn about people and their environment by creating art that will beautify the school • Children can be encouraged to conserve and reuse materials • The Arts • Music can be linked to activities • Link art to drama by having children create backdrops for plays • Technology • Children learn about technology by using woodworking tools such as hammers, saws, and drills • Point out how other professionals use these same tools to build houses or picture frames

7. THE TEACHER’S ROLE • Teachers should observe children in the art area and respond to their individual needs. Teachers should be aware of the stages in painting and drawing. • scribbling and making marks • making shapes, outlines, designs, and symbols that have personal meanings • Pictorial art that is becoming recognizable to others • Realistic art • Respond to each child and make sure that he • Can hold and use scissors, crayons, and other materials • Comes up with his own ideas or looks to others for inspiration • Represents his ideas in different art forms • Describes his own or others’ art • Takes risks in creating art that looks different • Talking with children about their art • Use art as a time for vocabulary development, concept development, and problem-solving • Talk about the children’s actions (pounding, mixing) • Ask about the process (How did you make that new color?) • Ask open-ended questions • Use words that encourage and support children’s efforts

9. EXPLORING THE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF ART THROUGH DRAWING • There are three developmental levels in drawing that are of concern to the early childhood teachers • The scribble stage (Around 1 to 1.5 yrs. of age). • Responding to the child’s need to explore, teachers provide art and play materials which offer children abundant sense stimulating possibilities, such as finger paints, colors soapsuds, textured fabric, and other such materials. 2. The basic forms stage 3. The pictorial (or first drawings) stage

10. EARLY SCRIBBLE STAGE: DISORDERED OR RANDOM SCRIBBLING • Disordered or random scribbling stage is the early scribble stage, in which the child does not have control over hand movements or the marks on a page. • The direction of marks depends on whether the child is drawing on the floor or on a low table. The way the crayon is held also affects how the scribbles look. • Children are often executing for sensory stimulation; oftentimes, the child doesn’t even realize that s/he is producing these scribbles. • Children receive as much satisfaction from just handling the materials- dumping the crayons out of the box, putting them back in again, rolling them across the table or in their hands- as they do from scribbling. • Art is such a sensory experience at this age that children may use crayons in both hands as they draw, singing along in rhythm to the movements they are making. LATER SCRIBBLE STAGE: CONTROLLED SCRIBBLING • Children find a connection between their motions and the marks on the page in the controlled scribbling stage (Generally happens about 6 months after children start scribbling). • Children begin to scribble with a great deal of enthusiasm and pride as they are gaining additional control and consequently mastering new skills. • Because children enjoy this new found power, they are encouraged to try new motions. • They may scribble in lines, zigzags, or circles.

11. THE SCRIBBLING STAGE AND TWO- DIMENSIONAL MEDIA • The term two-dimensional media refers to any art form that is flat. Examples of two-dimensional art processes are painting, drawing, printing and scribbling. • For a child between the ages of one and one- half and three years, a good quality kindergarten- type of crayon is the best tool for two-dimensional art work. • Since motion is the chief enjoyment in this stage, the child needs large blank paper (at least 18” x 24”). • A good deal of monitoring is required with toddlers because they are tempted to taste the materials and carry them about the room. • For toddlers the major values lie in simple experimentation with the color and texture.

12. THE BASIC FORMS STAGE • Children begin to recognize certain forms out of their scribble which leads to more evolved forms (i.e., circle, ovals, arcs, squares, rectangles). Early forms (circles, ovals, arcs); Later forms (squares, rectangles). • They develop as the child find the muscle control and hand-eye coordination to repeat the shape (Drawing looks more organized). • Children now ask to have their names put on their work so it can be taken home or displayed in the room. LATER BASIC FORMS: RECTANGLES AND SQUARES • As muscle control of three- to four-year-olds continues to improve, more basic forms are made in their drawings. • The rectangles and square forms are made when the child can purposefully draw separate lines of any length desired.

13. THE BASIC FORMS STAGE AND TWO-DIMENSIONAL MEDIA • Children in the basic forms stage have enough motor control and hand-eye coordination to use different tools. • The child may now begin to work with tempera paint. It is good as it flows easily from the brush onto the page. • Large lead pencils are good for children in the later period of this stage; there is less danger of injury. • The basic developmental goal for this age is the control of the media and tasks of drawing, painting, or modeling. • Felt-tip pens or colored markers are an excellent tool for this stage. They provide clear, quick, easily made, and nice looking marks. • The largest paper size is not as necessary in this stage as in the scribble stage. • Student observer should realized that children of this age like to repeat forms and should not try to force them to “make something else” to fill up the paper.

14. THE PICTORIAL STAGE • In the pictorial stage, children are now able to draw a variety of marks that make up their first pictures (Between 4 and 5 yrs. of age). • Children draw their first symbol, which is a visual representation of something important to the child. • Symbol. A visual representation of something important to the child. • Representational Art. Art in which symbols are used to reflect objects of importance. • The child realizes that there is a relationship between the object drawn and the outside world and that drawing and painting can be used to record ideas or express feelings. • The human form is often the child’s first symbol, other common symbol include trees, houses, flowers and animals. • Because the art is now representational, children need tools that can be easily controlled and thus facilitate their ability to produce desired symbols. • Thinner crayons and paintbrushes and less fluid paints can now be made available so children can express their ideas and feelings with greater realism. • Children over age five will want to be able to select representational colors, so variety of colors of paint, crayons, and markers are necessary. • Naming and owning the art produced are also important to children in this stage. Developing child portfolio’s are also beneficial.

15. EARLYPICTORIAL (FIRST DRAWINGS) STAGE • The child practices these symbols, covering sheets of paper with many examples of the same subjects. • Also at an early point in this stage, a child’s picture may be a collection of unrelated figures and objects. • During this early pictorial stage, the child is searching for new ideas. • LATER PICTORIAL (FIRST DRAWINGS) STAGE: USE OF SCHEMA • 4-5 year olds start to develop preferences in their symbols and their art. • Children are able to use their symbols in drawing to tell a story or describe an event. • By 5 1/2 and 6 years of age, children generally are ready to make a pictures of many things in their experience or imagination. • Children create new symbols as they have new experiences and ideas. However, children at this point can’t be expected to make pictures of the unfamiliar or of things they have not personally experienced. • Children need to repeat art processes over a period of time in order to become competent with and feel secure about using materials to express ideas and feelings.