Visual Arts
The visual arts provide opportunities for children to use materials they know to engage in experiences and also create products that encourage expression and imagination. In the 100 Languages of Children, from Reggio Emilia, arts media are considered a primary means for expressing thoughts, feelings, and cognitive understandings (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1993). In early childhood classrooms, the art center is usually a hub of activity, fostering delight and satisfaction, invention, imagination, and problem solving.
Early childhood educators provide materials and experiences that encourage original rather than programmed or expected outcomes. The processes of engagement with visual arts media are worthwhile and satisfying in and of themselves (Edwards, 2009).
When young children produce works of art, they should be encouraged to use their own creativity and imagination in ways that are meaningful to them. They should not be asked or encouraged to reproduce patterns found in adult models, use precut materials (such as parts of a face and body to construct a bunny), or be directed specifically through a series of steps that result in identical products. This type of product is neither developmentally appropriate nor creative (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Edwards, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).
Teachers can and should, however:
- Encourage children to explore the properties and possibilities of different kinds of media
- Demonstrate techniques for using tools and materials
- Provide inspiration with books, magazines, and print examples of realistic and abstract art that appeal to children, and photos of animals, birds, people, boats, and landscapes
The Art Center
Artists work in different media, including drawing, painting, print making, sculpture, collage, fabrics/fibers, and so on, choosing materials according to their intentions or ideas or what is available. With proper supervision and safety precautions, even the youngest toddlers can use a variety of materials.
Table 7.4 lists a broad range of supplies for different media areas and representative applications for the kinds of skills and processes they support through open-ended exploration. Note: All art activities support to varying degrees the development of fine motor (drawing, cutting, etc.) and gross motor (easel painting, rolling out dough, etc.) skills, which are discussed in further detail in Chapter 8; the focus in this chapter is the creative enterprise.
For cleanup, the art center should be located as close to a water source and sink as possible. The center should have a table surface big enough to accommodate several childrens supplies. The art area should have at least one easel, as children like to stand while working, and the eye-level perspective afforded by an easel allows them to stand back and look at their work as it emerges. Some provision is also needed to store wet products as they dry, such as a drying rack made for that purpose to keep work horizontal or a clothesline (caution: may drip, affecting the appearance of the original image).
When needed, children should be provided with smocks to protect their clothing. These can be purchased or modified from adult-sized shirts to adjust the arm length and body girth. Most “messy” materials, such as paints and markers, can and should be purchased in washable versions, and paint cups and stubby brushes are available with caps that minimize spillage and the slopping of paint from one container to another. Paints, papers, crayons, markers, modeling clay, and colored pencils are also available in multicultural colors that represent a variety of skin tones.
The art center should be organized and labeled with picture or symbol labels such as those described for other interest areas. This allows for easy and independent access to and replacement of materials. Teachers must show children how to use materials and tools responsibly. For example, paintbrushes should be stored with the handles down, and caps should be replaced on markers when children are finished using them. Many teachers use a block of wood with holes drilled out to hold markers upright and racks for storing scissors with the blade-side down. These make it easy for children to use the items and then put them away.
| Table 7.4: Art Center Materials | ||
|---|---|---|
| Media | Materials | Applications |
| Drawing | Pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, chalk/pastels, erasers, rulers, different kinds and sizes of papers to draw on (drawing paper, sandpaper, construction paper, mural paper). (Crayons are available in “chubby” or “block” versions for easy handling by toddlers.) |
Exploring line quality, using tools in different ways (such as the side of a chalk as well as its point), and creating forms and shapes, with different effects. |
| Print making | Print makingrollers, water-based ink, tempera, or finger paint; Styrofoam trays, heavy string or yarn, glue, sponges, wooden spoons; papers (see above). | Transferring an image from one surface to another (such as pressing a piece of paper onto an image made on another); using a tool or template to make multiple repeated images in different ways (such as using sponges or stamps to make a picture). |
| Collage | A variety of papers for cutting/tearing, such as tissue, construction paper; magazines, scissors (for children old enough to handle them); glue sticks, tape, stickers, fabric scraps, yarn, any small objects or materials that can be glued onto a flat surface, such as buttons, leaves, sequins, glitter, feathers, etc.; papers including cardboard or posterboard. Staplers, hole punchers, scissors. | Layering or using the kinds of materials listed to create an image design, or objects such as paper bag puppets. |
| Modeling | Play dough, modeling clay, air-dry or ceramic clay (requires firing); implements such as rolling pins, scrapers, tongue depressors, small mallets, or textured dough tools. | Rolling, cutting, and making impressions in modeling materials to construct three-dimensional forms or objects that might also be decorated with paints or glazes. |
| Painting | Finger and tempera paint, watercolors, paint cups, brushes, sponges, Q-tips, easel/clips and paper of different kinds/sizes, including easel paper, poster paper, construction paper, finger-paint paper. | Exploring color and the qualities of different kinds of paints with hands, fingers, or tools to create abstract or realistic figures, lines, and forms. |
| Sculpture | Small boxes, wood scraps, wire, pipe cleaners, straws, toothpicks, thread spools, etc. | Taping, gluing, or using other means of attaching materials together to make free-standing or relief creations. |
| Fabric/fibers | Yarn, string, twine, fabric scraps, strips or loops, felt, cotton or batting, tapestry needles (for older children), simple looms, socks. | Fabrics can be used for collage and, as children acquire the skill to do so, simple weaving or sewing projects. |
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