Art

Art

  
In the art area, children will find many different materials they can use to express themselves creatively. The different ways children take to express themselves (i.e. drawing, painting, molding, constructing, etc.) provide significant opportunities for learning. They can express their own ideas and feelings, work on fine motor skills, practice color recognition, and develop self-esteem and creativity.

Encouraging children to talk about what they are working on, again, helps them build important language and communication skills. Through the use of open-ended questions (i.e. what do you want me to know about your picture? what do you think you might use to make the door on that house?), they learn to describe their actions and the intent behind them. Allowing children to share and talk about their creations helps them develop a sense of pride and confidence in their work; they know they will always have an interested audience. 

Ideas for at Home:

When your child brings home an art project s/he created at school, take some time to talk about it. S/he will be excited about the project and allowing some time to talk about it will emphasize your interest in the work. Again, try to use open-ended questions. For example, say, "Tell me about your picture" instead of, "Did you make a house?". 

Art is also something that can easily be done at home. Find a place somewhere in your home that can be used to store different kinds of art materials. Your child can go to that place and grab what s/he needs to make the newest creation. Some ideas of materials you might include are: crayons, markers, pencils paper, developmentally-appropriate scissors, glue, and collage materials.

Dodge, Diane T., Colker, Laura J., Heroman, Cate. (2002). The Creative Curriculum.
        Washington DC: Teaching Strategies Inc.