The Development of Child Art - Part 2

The Studio

Child Development in the area of Art

Part 2

(Taken from Art 4-11 – art in the early years of schooling by Suffolk County Council)

Part one dealt with the child as he experiments with materials and tools. This is around the ages up to 18 months of age.

The stage is characterized by scribbling and is often called The Scribbling Stage.

As the child uses scribbles and as her arm and hand muscles develop, so too does her ability to make careful and more precise marks on a page. As the child explores and experiences the world, so too does her art work expand.

In a very real way the child begins to make closed shapes by accident. Shapes like circles and triangles and other closed shapes emerge as he experiments.

The first real shape is often a circle and the thinking behind why this is, is linked to the idea that a baby first sees a human face. Perhaps it is also the easiest and natural closed shape to make. At the same time as exploring the world, the child is also exploring the world of language. At this point an adult may ask some questions around what the drawing might be and so the child and the significant adult/s begin the process of labeling the work.

It is fun to give the child lots of different experiences with a variety of media. Colourful paint and crayons and large pieces of paper are great.

Children often put the paint on top of layers of other colours. This is all part of the process.

As she begins to understand herself and the world better; as she begins to explore and as her body develops so too will her art work expressed show this development.

I can not express enough that the PROCESS is the thing that matters here for kids. We, the adult, often enjoy and focus on the end PRODUCT, and of course it is special to us, but the actual development and learning and expression happened during the actual act of doing the work.

I run a little art Studio. I have children ages 5 – 11 who come and I have an adult class. It is so interesting to observe the very real difference in confidence in approaching art between the adult group and the children. Young children have a real courage. I think that so much of our courage with art is squeezed out of us . it begins with adults drawing FOR children and NAMING the picture for them. If I can encourage any adult who has a child or who works with children, try and give lots and lots of process work and let the child solve the problems with your guidance. Really try and NOT draw for children but let them go through the motion of learning and developing creative thinking.

Hot tips

• do not draw for children
• Keep a record of their work. It is interesting to spot the stages of art development
• Give lots and lots of different opportunities to draw and paint
• Let the child name the art…. I have painted a….. this can change the next time one asks the child about the same picture.

What children learn behind all that Play

We have been learning about colour. Here are some sensory tray ideas using colour as a theme.

 Painting in red and blue and yellow follows through using the theme of colour.

 Play dough in Yellow and blue when mixed together by small hands greates green. Lovley!!

This is a copy of a letter I wrote to my parents. What we get up to at Kids@ The Studio

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Dear Dads and Moms, Grannies and Helpers

It is always such a delight for me to have you and your little one come and learn through play at Kids@The Studio.  I thought I would write to you and explain some of the things we are doing at The Studio this term.

These are the broad brush strokes that make up our time together.

When you all arrive there is a time for free play and settling in. Children sometimes take a while to relax in the company of other children and adults and so this is a great opportunity. There will be a creative activity for the children to do which will be something they can take home.

There will be other activities like chalk drawing, painting and the like. While the weather is good, some of these things will take place outside but when the rain sets in we will need to find a place to be inside.  There are always perceptual games and puzzles available in the garage too. These I suspect will be enjoyed on rainy days. The idea here is for you and your child to choose a game, play it and pack it away.

I try and vary the sand play toys and the water toys each week. These past 2 weeks there have been some blue and red things in the sand pit in line with the blue and red colour we have been introducing to the children in the creative time.

The time we spend together in the group is a special, focused time for you and your child.  Each week we sing some songs that remain the same so that the children remember and have something to peg this time onto.’ Aaah’, they might reason, this is together time.

We will always do an activity where you get to play a game and /or build something together. This is a perceptual development time for the child and lots of thinking happens in this time.

Here after we will either have a movement time as with the hoops and been bags or we will have a music time. Music also has some elements of movement to it too.

There will be lots of instructions given and the children will need to follow. I like to use words like ‘show me how you?’ ……. The reason for this is to encourage the child to figure out their own way of doing something.

There will be a rest and relax time after all this thinking and doing.

The last little bit will be a much deserved free play time for both you and the children.

The story book time is a time for the children to experience something of books and the language of books. I am personally very passionate about reading and children’s books thrill me. I have my favourites and will be sharing these authors with you along the way.

I spend a great deal of time planning and putting the morning together for you all and really hope that you get the most out of it. The motto of Kids@ The Studio is Learning through play. The reason I have chosen this is because young children learn in profound and interesting ways as they play and experience, especially as the adults around them put words and add meaning to the learning experience.

Thanks you for making the morning a great learning experience. See you all on Tuesday.

This Blustery Day

We are back into the  term and we started on this cold and blustery day. The weather was mild but cold to begin with but has grown wilder and wilder as the day progressed.

I am not here to write about the weather althoguh weather, in my experience, can profoundly effect children and behaviour.

With the season changing quickly to autumn, I have made some changes to accomodate the colder weather, with this little group. 

The childen arrived with bounce . Some were a little cautious after the break. I has set up a gluing activity to start and really hoped that they would set to"work". 

I have been doing a whole lot of reading around sensory intergration with children of all ages. Some very interesting ideas have taken root in my thinking.

Children who struggle with sensory intergration issues can either seek out sensory input like spinning on a swing or avaoid it . 

One of the things we have been using at home with our son is the idea of a weighted something that can be used , by him, when he feels he might need it. he might place it on his lap, tummy , shoulder and even head. He does this all the time at home. I sewed all the boys a large bean bag filled with rice and these have been their ' happy huggers' . 

Try it esepcially if your little one or older one struggles with sensorry intergration .

The Out of Sync Child and The out of sync Child has fun  - both by Carol Stock Kranowitz are great books explaining the issues around sensory input and helping with very pracicle ideas on helping the child cope with a very busy, noisey world.

For our sensory tray we had all while lot of autumn things like leaves and bark and cones - thinks children could feel and incorporate into their imaginary play.

We had yellow dough and we hade a surprise tray with beans, rice and other sparkling things. - A sort of things to find tray.

We had a good bean bag movement time with the children balancing the bean bags a little on different body parts. 

We ended our programme with the delightful story called ..

We're going on a Bear Hunt by  Helen Oxenbury.  If you have never read this book then please try and get hold of it. All good book stores should have it and it is a Library must.

Can you feel it?

The squelch and the swirl 

 

Today we had a fantastically, messy sensory play time at The Studio.

Firstly there was sticky, blue play dough with tubs of flour ; then we had some shaving cream smeared all over the windows ; along side this we had small little trays with 'just flour' in them for tiny finger play; water with bubbles and straws and damp sand. all this was topped with some seed and rice pouring.

 Flour and Dough wonder!!

 This is Nursery School Paint. It is delightful paint to use with small kiddies. Bright colours and non-toxic  produce wonderful paintings.

Painting at an easel is fun and allows the child the opportunity to engage with his painting at his own pace. he can go towards it and leave it when he has had enough. The process of spreading two or three colours of paint onto the page is a wonderful exploring. This little man has even begun to feel the thick, goop of paint. 

We had a glories time together. The children had fun with the milk bottle scoops and newspaper balls; bean bags and some singing too.

We ended our time together with Eric Carle's great book " Brown Bear what do you see?"

If you are happy and you know it....

 I like to think that Kids@The Studio offers a morning of stimulation and good ideas for moms and their little ones but mostly a place to chat and have a good time.

 Today it started to rain as everyone was arriving. Keeping 7 little ones busy and dry on a rainy day is quite a thing:)

 Hats , hats and more hats. This little man is holding part of a milk bottle. The ither part to this is a newspaper ball used for catching and throwing.

 A few weeks ago we did box stacking and this has remained a firm favourite.

 Time to cook. We made pizza today with the moms and grannies and helpers all getting stuck in. Yum!!

 Printing is a fun painting activity . it is a real skill to push the printing object down and then pick it up and a real temptation to paint with it instead:) This little man painted his face too.

 This little man was a real little chef. His mom cooks with him a lot and so he could help grate some cheese.

 For the sensory tray ( in the rainy , damp outside area) we have jelly of all sorts of colours. Yum!

 Play dough birthday cake is always a hit. Play dough is a wonderful and relaxing thing for children to roll and pat and squish. A simple recipe is as follows......

Play dough recipe that works

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 cups water

food colouring

2 table spoons for cooking oil.

4 teaspoon cream of tartar

cook over a low heat until all the dough sticks together in a ball in the middle of the pot. Take it out ( be careful. It is hot). Roll it and knead it until it is wonderful and elastic. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge.

 Here are the children's finished pizzas. All ready to be eaten and enjoyed. The pizza recipe is one I took of the internet and I made the dough in my bread maker. The recipe is really simple and we use tomato paste and then cheddar cheese for the topping. A firm fav with my own children and we often make these at parties.

Pizza Dough Recipe - for a bread maker

1 1/2 cups water

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/4 salt

2 table spoons olive oil

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsps yeast

 We also made some giant body shape pictures. These are really wonderful.

I have an architect friend who keeps me all her old plans which are on large paper. Thanks Georgie!!

'I am tired now and really want to go home but I will sit and relax with my pizza.'

Boxes Galore

 I love cardboard of any kind and especially the kind that has been fashioned into a box. A box to put things into or stand on top of. A box to climb into or to fill with sand or other finds. A box that is so tiny and another that is bigger than I am. I love boxes!!!

 I like to  use waste in this group and in fact in most of the things I do with kids. I like to make things from waste and let children experience the fun we can have from making something from nothing.

 Here are the creepy crawly fantasy logs. The bugs get to crawl on the tree and down onto the tree stumps.

 This week I put some boxes into the sand play area .

 Water play included the sea creature theme and some nets for fishing them out :)

 Water in a bucket and an old paint brush  will provide a lot of fun for little people.

 The blue monkey and some bean bags make for a fun toss and aim game. Look mom I can throw.

The scribble stage is so clearly shown in this chalk art of this little 2 year old:)

Kids@The Studio have fun

 Today was week 2 of Kids @ The Studio and we had a lot of garden fun.  Here are the boxes I introduced in a together 'ring' time last week and I was interested to see what the children did with them in the garden.

 Here is the block table for today - built by my very handy hubby!! :)

 We pour and stir and drink real tea:)

 This is puzzle time

 mmm - tea is yummy!!

 Here is what two delightful little chaps got up to with the boxes. What a win!! So get collecting and make your own empty box towers at home.

 Sandpit fun.

 I have lots of different things in the garden for the children to play with. Hobby horses, sandpit play, water play, blocks and boxes, bikes and books. The children spend a very busy morning playing and learning as they play.