Art Music Drama

Art Music Drama

Fun with Art Play: Children are Natural Artists

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How Safe Are Your Walls? Kids are Natural Artists!

Kids do not need to be able to draw in order to create art; children are natural artists and make art as soon as they can hold a crayon or marker. Sometime between the age of one and two, children discover that they can make marks with chalk, crayons, markers, and pens. While most of the time, they make marks on paper, some of them will also color on walls. Paper or wall, these creations are art.

art play for young children
Adults do not view this scribbling as works of art, but lines are one of the basic elements of art. Children first have to discover how to use their shoulders, arms, hands, wrists, and fingers to make lines or scribbles.

 

art play for young children
As the muscles and brain develop, the scribbling changes from random to more controlled. There are curved lines, swirls, loops, and more. This reflects increased coordination and growth of thinking skills.

 

art play for young children
Soon children are capable of making patterns and images with their lines. This is challenging enough to be art work and it certainly is art play.

As parents and caregivers, we do not need to be good at drawing to support children’s art play. We can easily encourage kids by giving them a space for creating and tools, like crayons, markers, brushes, and paints. Save papers that are only used on one side and let kids have the other side. Cereal and cardboard boxes are great alternatives to paper. It is also very helpful for kids to know that it’s okay if messes happen and to provide them with some rags and bags for cleaning up.

Somewhere in DreamlandArt projects do not need to be complicated. The lines and colors inside these letters are bright and beautiful and they are very simple. This project was done over a few days and shared by mom Diana at Somewhere In Dreamland.

In the words of Pablo Picasso, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up.” How do you encourage art play for your child?

Art Music Drama

Art Play with Blocks and Construction Toys

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Can Kids Do Art with Blocks and Toys?

Paper and crayons or paint aren’t the only way for kids to make art; art play with blocks and construction toys happens even when adults don’t notice. Kids themselves may discover that they have created wonderful art as they play with blocks, Lego, and other construction toys. Kids are not as programmed as adults about what can be considered art, so their drawings in the mud, their block patterns, their play dough sculptures, and the ketchup smears on their plate can all be art.

art play with blocksSome of the elements of art are line, shape, and color. When playing with blocks, kids are building lines in all directions, finding out what shapes fit where and using different colors. The blocks in the photo have been placed in the shape of the circle, with some more placed on top of each other all the way around. This was created by preschool-aged kidlets after looking at some pictures of mandalas. This is a gorgeous work of art resulting from combining blocks in a variety of ways.

Here is another work of art  of house and garden ‘painted’ by a 4 year old with lego bricks. Not art? Well, it might not be Mona Lisa, or The Scream. Of course, these were done by adults based on famous works of art. The other one is an abstract. Perhaps it’s called “Variations on a Square.” It’s often repeated by kids everywhere.

art with blocksPatterns are not considered to be one of the elements of art, but shapes, and lines, and color can be combined in amazing and artistic ways. We can see the art of the pattern in these mosaic blocks. The child artist has invested tremendous time, energy, and focus just like an adult artist. It’s creative and visually appealing.

Yes, art play with blocks and construction toys can certainly happen, but maybe instead of calling them ‘works of art’ we could say ‘plays of art’?

Art Music Drama

Teaching Art To Your Child: Texture

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Art Play and Fun with Texture

Yes, teaching art to your child is quite possible and you do not have to be an artist or have studied art in college, plus you can do it easily at home. For teaching art to your child and playing with texture you don’t need fancy materials or an expensive program although the amount of glue that kids go through can add up, along with scotch tape. You can find what you need in the kitchen, the scrap box, or the recycling.

teaching art to kids textureChildren like to explore and discover. We can often encourage this simply by setting materials out on a table or counter top and letting kids play with them. We may make comments about how something feels using words to describe the texture such as rough, slippery, fuzzy, smooth, bumpy, soft, hard, sticky, squishy, and so on. Asking questions like “I wonder how this would look on a paper?” or “Does this look like a _____ ?” can spark children’s imaginations and they will start to create.

teaching art to kids textureThe picture of the girl in a skirt was done by a four-year old who needed help cutting the fabric pieces because kid-scissors weren’t strong enough. She gave me specific instructions about where to cut but the choosing of fabric scraps, arranging and gluing was all done by her.

teaching art to kids textureThe next two were made by twins,  a boy and a girl also 4-years old. Bread tags and pieces of colored straws were arranged on top of a drawing of a house to make it 3-d. A bottle cap, straws, and plastic circles show a person at the playground. Kids will use anything so throwing stuff out almost has to be done in secret.

teaching art to kids textureA super crafty mom, Dot who has the amazing site BustedButton.com shared this card made by her daughter for her birthday. I think Dot has either a magic formula or secret spell to make buttons stick. She does have an amazing collection of buttons. While you may not have an art gene, we all have a play one.

teaching art to kids textureAlthough we might think we are teaching art to kids, it’s probably more accurate to say children teach themselves when we provide them with time, space, and materials. We can give kids opportunities, like the ones in this photo, to experience textures for themselves and to stimulate their sense of touch. Can you think of some ways for your child to explore and create with texture?