Art playgroup.
After working for four years as a developmental therapist with two- to five-year-olds, I began to wonder how parents could be involved in a developmentally appropriate art program for very young children. Out of these wonderings "Art Playgroup," a program for children ages two to five and their parents, was born.Operating under the auspices of DTA Center for Learning & Growing, a nonprofit in Ellsworth, Maine, we received a grant from the Francis R. Dewing Foundation that enabled us to purchase art supplies, hire visiting artists, and provide scholarship funds to families.
The program provides an opportunity for young children to participate in developmentally appropriate experiences with a variety of art media. Through modeling, handouts, direct teaching, and hands-on experiences, children and their parents learn how to approach artwork and use art materials. The curriculum is based on developmental stages.
Our small group contains five to six children, each with a parent or caregiver. We always have an art educator leading the group, and sometimes a second early childhood specialist to help with the flow and talk to parents. We meet once a week for two hours, and all participants make a commitment to come for a six-week session. Parents learn how their children use art materials, what they prefer, and how children develop in art.
Art with very young children does not have to be elaborate or complicated. Children appreciate direct explorations with materials and discoveries of the basic elements of art: line, shape, color, and texture. We introduce many different art forms and media.
Painting
Painting with tempera engages shoulders and big movements. We often paint at an easel or at a huge six-foot-long mirror in our room. Early experiences with paint help children to develop the left-to-right tracking skills and develop muscles used later for writing. We usually start with one or two dark colors for contrast. Then every week we introduce more colors. We use various kinds of brushes: regular easel brushes, stubby brushes, and various funny brushes. We paint on different shapes of paper: flower shapes, circular shapes, butterfly shapes, and unusual rectangles.
When painting with watercolor, we try many techniques, including using it as finger paint or with brushes. Very young children like to pour the water over their paintings, so small can lids are used for water containers. We discovered liquid watercolor, which has a myriad of uses in spray bottles (which helps build hand strength), with eyedroppers, and with regular paintbrushes.
We use finger paint as a play activity. We run toy cars through the paint and make textures in it with various tools and brushes. Finger painting is a great way for children to explore color mixing. Give them two primary colors and let them discover what happens when they mix. Shaving cream makes good finger paint, as does a product called "foam paint."
Drawing
Children enjoy using a variety of media: chalk, pens, markers, pencils, crayons, pastels, etc. Having an adult, especially a parent, draw alongside the child was often very effective in our setting.
Stages of Drawing and Painting
Awareness of these stages informs our interactions with children, as well as the selection of art materials.
1. The Scribbling Stages (uncontrolled or disordered scribbling at age one and a half to two; controlled scribbling at age two to two and a half; and naming of scribbling at ages three to four).
2. The Design Stage (ages three and a half to five).
3. First Representational Attempts (age four).
During the scribbling stages, children learn how to hold writing tools, use gross and fine motor muscles, and experiment with cause and effect as they apply paint or drawing tools to paper. In Art Playgroup we encourage exploration of a variety of media for mark-making and interact with comments such as, "I see you made lines move all over the paper." We also ask children to tell us about their mark-making.
Sculpting
The children help to make the dough. We mix the ingredients together in sequence, (first flour and salt, next oil, last water) to help develop language-processing skills.
We also use clay. We explore this developmental sequence:
* Pound, poke, pinch (age 2 and up)
* Practice early cutting skills with play dough scissors (age 2 1/2+)
* Roll coils and balls (age 2+)
* Coil pots, push pots (age 4 and up)
Assembling
Making assemblages with different textures, small objects, and wood scraps engages children in exploration of balance and form. Many children favor collage and like to shake glitter and drop sequins onto surfaces coated with glue.
Printing
We print with vegtables, fruits, or found objects. First, we predict what is inside the fruit or vegetable before cutting it open. We print with a paint pad (tempera paint on a paper towel in a Styrofoam meat tray), or with a washable stamp pad. Fingerprints, handprints, fold-over prints, and stamping, with a washable stamp pad as the ink, are all appropriate experiences for young children.
No-Cook Dough 2 cups flour 2 tablespoons salt 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 teaspoons alum 1 cup very hot water food coloring 1. Mix the flour, salt, oil, and alum in a large bowl. 2. Add the food coloring to the water. 3. Pour the colored water into the mixture and stir. 4. When the dough has cooled, knead on the tabletop until totally mixed. KoolAid Dough 3-4 Cups of flour 1/2 cup salt 1 3/4 cup hot water 1 tablespoon alum 1 package unsweetened KoolAid 3 tablespoons oil Mix dry ingredients, then add water and oil. Stir. Knead to desired consistency. Peanut Butter Dough (an edible dough): 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup oatmeal 1/2 cup honey 1 cup nonfat powdered milk 1. Put the oatmeal and powdered milk in a large bowl and mix together. 2. Add the honey and peanut butter and mix until the dough forms a large ball.
References
Topal, Cathy Weisman, Children, Clay and Sculpture, Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1983.
Practices and Ideas
These are some practices and ideas we find helpful when engaging in art experiences with very young children:
1. Work alongside very young children instead of always creating models to copy. Engage in mirroring and matching as they explore (they poke clay, you poke the clay; they pound the clay, you pound the clay). As a next step you can try pace, pace, lead: mirror their actions two times, then lead them to a new one (poke, poke, pinch). If they follow and try something new, ok; if not, that's ok, too.
2. Describe what the child is doing, keep sentences short (two to four words) and don't be afraid to he repetitive: "Oh, you poked the clay. You used your thumb (pointer, pinky, etc.). It made a hole." This helps children value what they are doing, and also helps with speech/language development. Make sure to pause and give the child time to respond or repeat.
Some concepts to use:
* over, under, through, beside, between, first, last
* high, low, up, down
* tall, short, big, small
3. Listen to children's stories or words as they create. Some approaches even recommend writing down what children say while they work.
4. Cultivate a sense of play and wonder in yourself. Avoiding right/wrong (within safety rules) is very helpful in this regard.
Christina Heiniger is an art teacher in the Ellsworth School Department in Ellsworth, Maine, and a developmental therapist with the DTA Center for Learning & Growing in Trenton, Maine,
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| Title Annotation: | Early Childhood |
|---|---|
| Author: | Heiniger, Christina |
| Publication: | School Arts |
| Date: | Sep 1, 2004 |
| Words: | 1243 |
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