NURTURING CREATIVITY THROUGH THE CREATIVE ARTS

THE NEED TO TEACH ART TO YOUNG CHILDREN

 Art is an integral part of our lives.
 Art is the child’s first language.
 Art helps children grow.

ART IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR LIVES

 Visual art is the manipulation of the visual and spatial elements of line, color, texture,
pattern, and form (Koster, 1997).

ART IS THE CHILD’S FIRST LANGUAGE

 As children explore and experiment with materials in their environment, they begin to
develop graphic symbols to represent ideas.

ART HELPS CHILDREN GROW

 As young children create art, they gain skills and develop concepts which enable them to
function in their environment.
 Art helps children grow physically, socially, emotionally, perceptually, cognitively, and
creatively.

PHYSICALLY
 Art helps children grow physically by improving their large and fine muscles and by
refining eye-hand coordination.

EMOTIONALLY
 Art is natural vehicle for children to express their feelings. They reflect their thoughts and
emotions through their choices of color, texture, and media.
 Children also use art to express their originality and individuality.

SOCIALLY
 As children work together in creating art, they learn social skills. They learn to take turns
and to share materials with others.
 Art provides children the opportunity to work together towards a common goal.

COGNITIVELY
 Children learn through their senses, and visual perception is actually visual thinking.
 Visual thinking is a cognitive process where images are given meaning.
 Children grow cognitively as they name, count, sort, classify, and describe art materials.
 Children also use their thinking skills when they plan, organize, select media, and
represent their ideas and impressions when they draw, paint, and sculpt.
 Children learn about cause and effect, the nature of materials and the changes they
undergo through different art experiences.
 Children use the elements of art to represent their thoughts. They develop their verbal
skills when they talk about their art work.
—LASKEY & MUKERJI (1980)
“Art must be acknowledged as basic to individual development and, therefore be taught
effectively beginning in the early years.”

NURTURING CREATIVITY THROUGH THE CREATIVE ARTS

The Works of Rhoda Kellog

 Rhoda Kellogg (1970) was one of the first to recognize that the scribbles of young children
were an important part of the child’s development and that the marks made by different
children from different cultures and countries are more similar than they were different.

The Work of Rhoda Kellogg

 Scribbles represent the earliest form of drawing.
 Kellogg identified 20 kinds of markings w/c she called Basic Scribbles.
 Vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curving, waving, or zigzag lines and dots.

The Placement Stage

 Kellogg used the term placement stage to describe 2-3 years old’s drawings drawn on a page
in placement patterns.

The Shape Stage

 The shape stage is the term used by Kellogg to describe the drawings of three-year olds that
consists of diagrams in different shapes.

The Design Stage

 The design stage is the term used to describe the drawings of 3-4 years old in which young
children mix two basic shapes into a more complex design.
The Pictorial Stage
 This term used by Kellogg to describe the drawings of four to five years old that consist of
objects that adults can recognize.

 “…the child who has frequent opportunity to draw without the interference learns faster and
increases his cognitive ability more than he would if he were denied the opportunity” (1969
in Koster, 1997).

The Work of Victor Lowenfeld and William Lambert Brittain

 Victor Lowenfeld and William Lambert Brittain expanded Kellogg’s work and extended the
stages of art development into adolescence.

 Like Kellogg, they also warned against outside interference in the child’s process of self-
expression.
Art and Cognitive Development
 Although few researchers in art education overtly acknowledge their Debt to Piaget, the
research and theory of artistic development has emerged in dialogue with Piagetian
assumptions (Atkinson, 2002).
 Howard Gardner (1991) supports Piaget’s idea that sensory learning dominates the first 18
months of life, and this is followed by a symbolic period during the preschool years.

 Other researches (Darras and Kindler, 1994; Wolf and Perry, 1984) propose a model of
artistic development that shows how a child’s art is more than the picture on the paper, but
also what the child says how the child’s move.
 They also describe artistic production as modality, one that is organized by modes of
behavior.
 An outline of how sensorimotor activity develops into drawing is provided by illustrations
of hypothetical pre-drawing developmental pathways or technologies (Kindler & Darras,
1997).
 According to this model, a child’s art is more than the picture of the model, but also what
child says and how the child moves.
 Art production is multimedia blend of graphic, verbal and kinesthetic experiences that
reveals the child’s thought processes.
 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT

First
 Adults determine what art materials are acceptable for children to use and set the limit of
what is creative art.

Second
 Adults determine how much experience children have with art materials.

Third
 Adults determine the availability of art materials.

Fourth
 Adults determine the kind of environment the child will be surrounded with.

Fifth
 Adults can influence how a child feels about art.

IMPORTANCE
 The importance of the social and cultural factors that affect children’s artistic development
requires teachers and adults to see the child as a whole, made of a unique combination of
these factors.
Planning and Organizing Art Activities for Children
1. Who? Group composition
 Specify the age group and no. of children.
 Know the children’s previous experience in art.
 Know if there are children with special needs.

2. When? Time frame

 Provide sufficient time to complete an activity.
 Provide transition time from wet to try activity.
 Provide time for sharing, discussing, and mounting finished product.

3. Why? Objectives
 Describe a behavior that can be accomplished within the time frame of the activity.
 Use words that describe observable and measurable behaviors specific to the activity.

4. Where? Setup
 Describe where the children will be working.
 State where the supplies will be located.

5. What? Materials
 Select materials that allow children to explore independently.
 Choose materials that can be used many times and in many ways by the children.
 Select materials that are safe and easy to use.
 Select materials that do not require long preparation or clean up time.

6. How? Procedure
 Transition into the activity includes getting children’s interest and introducing the
materials and where to get them.
 Outline the step-by-step procedure that describes what the teacher and the children will
be doing.
 Describe the kinds of questions to ask, vocabulary to use, and responses to give to the
children at work.
 Describe the transition out of the activity by providing the children with closure.

7. How successful?
 Describe indicators describing what children are able to do during the activity.
 After the activity, take time to answer the ff questions:
 “Did the activity went the way it was planned?”
 “Were the materials properly presented?”
 “Were the children excited about the activity?”

ART ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

EXPLORATORY ACTIVITIES
 Exploration is the first phrase of artistic development and is carried on long after the child
has become an adult.
 Exploration is the foundation of an early childhood art program.

PRACTICE ACTIVITIES
 Children should be given time to practice and master their skills in using art materials and in
manipulating elements of art.
 For example, children need to practice drawing lines on paper, on sand, on the table top using
markers, crayons, sticks, and fingers.

RESPONSIVE ACTIVITIES
 When children are comfortable using an art medium, they can be given prompts or thought-
provoking experiences during which they use the art medium to express their thoughts.

RESPONSIVE ACTIVITIES
 For example, after reading a story about feelings, children may be asked to draw lines to
show the emotions they feel while listening to a song.

Activities for Developing Fine Motor Skills

 A child’s ability to draw, paint, make collage, and create models depends on the child’s
motor skills.
 Motor skills are actions that involve the movement of muscles in the body.
 Gross motor skills, fine motor skills

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

 These skills involve the use of the larger movements of arms, legs, feet or the entire body.
 Crawling, running, and jumping.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

 It refers to the smaller actions, such as grasping an object between the thumb and a finger or
using the lips and tongue to taste objects.
 It also involves strength, fine motor control, and dexterity.

Activities for Developing Fine Motor Skills

 Motor skills usually develop together since many activities depend on the coordination of
gross and fine motor skills.
 Gross motor skills develop over a relatively short period of time.

1. FINGER AND PALM ACTIVITIES

 Finger activities are designed to strengthen the fine muscles of the wrist and fingers.

2. MANIPULATIVE ACTIVITIES
 These activities require the use of manipulatives.
 For example, children can use bean bags, clothespins, puzzle pieces, pegs, sock balls cords,
and other manipulatives to develop precision grip and release, while sorting and feeling,
threading, braiding, and lacing activities.

3. PENCIL AND PAPER ACTIVITIES

 Some paper and pencil activities when made a part of the daily routine help children develop
their fine motor skills.
 Scribbling, drawing, paper tearing, folding, tracing, copying, and paper cutting. Teaching the
Different Art Forms
 As children gain better control for their fine muscles, they become more confident in
exploring and learning the different art forms namely, drawing, painting, collage,
printmaking, modelling, and three-dimensional art.

4. DRAWING
 It is the manipulation of lines to create a visual effect. Children draw different tools and
surfaces.
 Drawing is linked to their linguistic development and is considered as the child’s first written
language.

According to Koster (1997) through and by drawing, children develop:

 Physically
 Socially
 Emotionally
 Perceptually
 Cognitively
 Art awareness

Drawing materials for Young Children

 Crayons
 Marker
 Pencils
 Chalk

Drawing Surfaces
 Bogus drawing textured paper
 Construction paper
 Kraft paper
 Manila paper
 Newsprint
 Tag board
 White drawing
 Boxes
 Sand
 Rocks

5. PAINTING
 Creating a painting for the young child is first and foremost a sensory experience. When
children paint, they develop: physically, socially, emotionally, perceptually, cognitively, art
awareness.

Painting Materials for Young Children

 Brushes, sponges, sponge brushes, paint rollers, feathers and feather dusters, branches and
twigs, squeeze bottles such as empty shampoo or lotion containers, and craft sticks with
clothe taped to end.
Painting Exploration for Three Years Old and Up
 As children develop better control of their muscles and the fluid nature of paint, they are now
ready for a wider variety of activities.

TIPS IN PLANNING FOR PAINTING EXPLORATIONS

 Setup- If you’re using easels, provide a ratio of one easel for every five children. Set the
easels side-by-side to give the children the most opportunity to interact. Put a piece of heavy
plastic under the easel to catch the drip. Cover the table and easel surface with newspaper.
 Materials
 Paint- aside from tempera, other types of paint can be offered occasionally.
 Paper- offer different kinds of paper.
 Painting tools- allow children to use a variety of painting tools.
 Transition in

There are different ways of introducing a painting activity. You can sing a song about painting or
mime painting during circle time, read a book about a painter, recite a poem or do a finger play
about painting.

TIPS IN PLANNING FOR PAINTING EXPLORATIONS

What to do
 The process is more than the product.
 They would want to show pride and ownership of their work and they will demand that their
paintings be handled with care.
 When planning a painting experience for children remember to offer open-ended activities
that allow color mixing, accept exploration, and foster concentration.

What to say
 Remember not to interrupt children while they are painting. Wait for them to look up, save
conversation for later. Focus the conversation on the art elements and the way paint
functions.

Transition out
 Children often announce with great satisfaction when they are finished painting. Remind the
children to clean up the place and to wash their hands. Show them where and how to take
their own paintings to dry. Make sure they wear their smocks until this chore is done to
avoid accidents or stains.

Art Awareness
 Display and discuss paintings by artists from different times and cultures. Focus the
discussion on how the artists made the different colors.

Suggested Painting Activities

 Make the paint spread differently by adding detergent, liquid starch, and corn syrup to the
paint.
 Make the paint thicker by adding sawdust, sand cornmeal, flour, soap flakes, or dry cereal to
the paint.
 Produce a bubbly effect by adding salt to the paint.
 Produce a glittery effect by sprinkling salt to the paint.
 Use variety of paint brushes.
 Paint directly on a smooth table top and then press a piece of paper over the painting to
make a monoprint.