Children As Artists
Children As Artists
Children As Artists
Children as artists
Try to see things from their point of view. Understanding how children see the world
will help you to help them as they learn.
Let children be children. A skilled five year old grows from a busy four year old, a
curious three year old, a cuddled two year old, an adventurous one year old and a
communicative baby.
Be a playful companion. You can enjoy childhood with the children as well.
Feelings matter both the childrens emotions and your own are part of any
situation with young children. It is very helpful to be aware of your own moods as
well as the childrens when enjoying yourself with them and during difficult moments.
Dont expect to be perfect. Everyone does something they dont mean
sometimes. Children can be forgiving as long as we are thoughtful most of the time
and are ready to say sorry when we should.
Children as artists
Young children are artists. They use all sorts of
materials to show what they have noticed about
the world. They might draw the rain falling onto the
tent during a family holiday, paint a giraffe seen at
the zoo, model a fish from clay and press patterns
into its body. What they make can say more about
their experiences than they are able to describe in
words because, with their hands, they can show
the fatness of those clouds, the giraffes long neck
or the amazing scales on the fish.
Cathy Myer
New skills
Someone to talk to
One of the best ways to help children develop as
artists is to talk about what they have done. It is
not very encouraging if you always ask What is
it? when they bring a drawing or model for you
to look at. But asking children to talk about what
they are doing is often very revealing and thrilling.
Children look at the world and show it in amazing
ways. They choose what is important to them
the fluffiness of a cat, perhaps and describe it
with marks. Young children dont care much about
drawing something that is correct. Everyone
knows that cats have four legs so they may not
bother to draw the right number of legs on their
cat but that fluffy coat might be really special to
one child and so that is what she will draw.
Talking to children about what they have made
will help them to develop their language but it
also shows them you think their art is important.
Children need confidence to learn anything, and
knowing that you value what they do is a great
boost to confidence.
Children as artists
Useful publications
Helen Bromley (2006) Making my own mark:
play and writing, London: Early Education.
Ursula Kolbe (2005) Its not a bird, yet,
London: Peppinot Press.
Useful contacts
Early Education promotes the right of all children to education of the highest quality. It provides
support, advice and information on best practice for everyone concerned with the education
and care of young children from birth to eight.
Early Education
136 Cavell Street, London E1 2JA
tel 020 7539 5400
www.early-education.org.uk