Ah, Art – Understand each child’s artwork MUST be an original expression of the child’s feelings and ideas about events, facts, and situations, and MUST NOT be changed, altered, corrected, or edited by the adults.

Another HUGE pet peeve of mine is that many teachers do not know the difference between “ART”, which is an original creation by an artist, without addition, deletion, or change by any other person, and “arts and crafts” which are usually store-bought or teacher-created kits with a model included for each child to clone.

Please do not consider an arts and crafts project ART. Arts & Crafts projects are excellent for fine motor development, eye-hand coordination, and direction-following, but they are not ART.

Pages torn from coloring books are not ART. On a visit to a very expensive private preschool, the Head Mistress proudly pointed to over 100 identically colored pre-drawn pages displayed on the walls of her office like wall paper border and said, “Here is an example of our children’s ART.”

NO!!!! NOT ART!!!

Original child-made creations that are altered by well-meaning teachers so the googly eyes on the snowmen are anatomically correct and the carrot noses are not “embarrassingly” placed in the lower snowball area ARE NOT ART!

 

No mama wants the teacher’s artwork displayed on her refrigerator or placed lovingly in her baby’s memory book.

There is nothing more wonderful than children being given the freedom and encouragement to express their feelings and thoughts and there is nothing more detrimental to learning than a classroom in which this freedom of expression is not given on a DAILY basis.

Never show disdain for a child’s expression or try to alter it to be ‘right’. 

Encourage children to praise their own work, their own words, and their own expressions.  Instead of saying “I like this picture”, try “Do you like it?  Then so do I”, or “Look what you made!  How did you do that?”

“Anyone who says you can’t see a thought simply doesn’t know art.”                        ~Wynetka Ann Reynolds

Next Blog: DAP for the Spirit – Family