Art in the

Early Childhood Curriculum

An art program is planned around the developmental needs

of the child

Sean age 1

Social-emotional growth

• Feelings• Social skills relating to other children and adults outside the family

• Self-concept and self- awareness

Self-concept and self acceptance

• Awareness of their own characteristics and how these are similar or different than others

• Self-acceptance self-confidence and self-esteem

Building relationships

• Child to child relationships to work, talk and be together

Physical (motor) development

• Ability of children to use their bodies– Large & small muscle development

• Large & small motor activities

Mental development

• Sensory-motor learning

• Vocabulary and talking to children

Vocabulary and art

• Expanding vocabulary about creative materials and processes

• Thick, thin, hard, soft, straight, curved………

Developmental levels/stages of art

Developmental levels/stages

• Develop abilities in a gradual process

• What a child can do in art at different ages

Austin age 4

Three developmental stages of drawing

• Scribble stage-early and late• Basic forms stage• Pictorial or first drawing stage

The early scribble stage 1 1/2

to 2 years of age• About one to 2 years of age

• Scribble with anything and on anything

• Random group of lines

• Enjoy the physical motion involved

• Act of doing Nicholas age 2

Early scribble stage

• No control over hand movements or marks on a page (motor control)

• disordered random scribbling

• no connection made• just handling the materials

Jillian age 2

Later scribble stage: controlled scribbling 2-3

• Connection between motions and marks

• Hard to distinguish

• Marks go in direction desired

• Coordination between seeing and doing enjoyables

Rachel age 1

Tools for the scribble stage-drawing

• Safe easy to hold• 1-3 large non-toxic unwrapped crayons

• large blank paper• white paper to see the results

• newspaper (job ads)

Yahel age 2

Tools for the scribble stage-painting

• 2-3 yo’s need 12 inch handles

• Paint that is thick (mix in dry soap)

• Heavier paper• Easel and table• Major value to experiment

Gracie age 3

Basic forms stage 3-4

• Basic forms begin to develop as the child finds and recognizes simple shapes in their drawings

• Develop as she finds muscle control and hand-eye co-ordination

Madeline age 4

Basic forms stage 3-4

• Hold tools as adults• Control • Make loops, circular shapes and lines and repeat them

• Start to value their art

• Ask for names/displays

Eric age 4

Basic forms stage

• early– circle and oval develop from scribbling

• later– after learning to draw lines of any length and then can join these lines

Aaron age 4

Tools for the basic forms stage

• Different tools due to increased hand-eye coordination and motor control– tempera paint that flows easily– large lead pencils– variety of papers– felt tip markers-nontoxic and water based– smaller sizes of paper introduced– large variety of color and paper textures

Pictorial stage 4-5 year olds

• Made by the child for a purpose

• Images begin to stand for ideas

• The child chooses particular forms-their first symbols Nico age 4

Representational/ pictorial art

• Art where symbols represent something real to the maker

• relationship between the outside world and the objects drawn

• can be used to record ideas or express feelings

Emily age 5

• Basic forms have been put together to produce symbols

• stand for real objects in the child’s mind

• the scribble is now something of importance to the child

Seth age 4

Tools for the pictorial stage

• Tools for easier control to make easy the expression of symbols and express their ideas with greater realism– thinner crayons/paint– varieties in color– markers and other forms of art materials.

Alexander age 4

Additional occurrences

• Naming and owning their art

• writing stories of their art

• recognize other children’s art

Emma

Pictoral importance

• Sign of a change in thinking

• Connecting with the world around them

• Communicating with the environment

Anjaly age 6

The children are now expressing their own personalities.

They express what is important during the process of creating, but also how aware they have

become in thinking ,seeing and feeling.

The child is now giving expression to her/his life

experiences

Lin age 5

art activity

Eric age 4