LEARN ABOUT THE STAGES OF CHILD ART
Sometime between the ages of 2 and 4 years of age, children pass through a fairly predictable series of developments which form the basis of their artistic expression. Children’s early markings are important work. Their scribbles, drawings and designs are the building blocks from which later art work will grow. Being aware of these stages will help you to devise ways to motivate and guide children.
The Motivation Drawing Assignment is a chance to work closely with one child. It is a lesson in listening and observing. "Ask a child to do a drawing of him or herself doing something that he or she is very good at doing – or really loves to do. Keep track of what the child says (word for word) and what you say and do. Hand in both the drawing and a written account of your experience. We will share all the drawings in class and see how they compare to the stages of development that were identified in the readings."
Alexander’s picture
"I love playing soccer and I’m good at it. I used to take soccer lessons. Yeah, I’ll draw myself playing soccer…..I wear a short-sleeve shirt, but it’s a little long for me, so I tuck it in…..Oh, and you also wear special kinds of shoes in soccer. They’re called cleats. I’ll draw myself wearing them….Laces are hard, so I just draw two circles…Oops, I made the legs too big. I’ll have to make them smaller or else my head won’t fit…I’m not using my hands in the picture, because you can’t use your hands in soccer….I drew this guy smaller because it’s always easier to see the close up person than the far away person….It’s easy to make clouds and grass because they come in any shape…..Sometimes I make mistakes, like here in my name, but I’ll just make it look like it’s falling from the sky. That’s okay to do."
Here I shared with Alexander that in my art class I often want to start over, but that when I try to make my mistakes into something else, they often end up being my favorite part of the picture. He replied, "Yeah, like right here. I messed up my cleats and I made them have a green part. They don’t really have a green part, but they look nice like that. I think they should make cleats with a green part on the back."
Through my work with Alexander, I learned several things. First, I saw how important the planning stage is. He really thought about where everything would go, and it took more than one try of "pretend drawing" to get the proportions right. If he had actually been drawing with the marker, he might have become frustrated by having to start over and wouldn’t have enjoyed the process as much. The motivation part of the "lesson" also helped him to think about the details that he would put into his drawing.