Art can help children express, communicate and create order. Children generally lack the breadth of vocabulary necessary to articulate all of the complexity of their thoughts and emotions succinctly. Not having the words to express feelings can be frustrating for young children and art provides a useful outlet by which to express themselves. Children also seek order as a means to define their world and understand things in context. There is a methodical component to art that allows children to creatively explore new ideas and make sense of them through association.
Stimulating Brain Development
Drawing stimulates the brain to grow in the areas that learn how to observe. Some children are born with the intellect and instincts that predispose them to spend more time drawing, but these habits can nurtured and developed by the settings in which they are raised. Even children with no inherent artistic talent can use art as a means to increase their intellectual capacity to observe and express.
Children who frequently practice drawing often discover how to make observations and drawings that seem advanced for their age. Drawing and other observational art projects such as collages and collections encourage an eye for detail and the ability to differentiate or find similarities that might be overlooked by someone who is not trying to create an artistic rendering. Observational drawing strengthens memory and all drawing promotes fine motor skills, spatial understanding as well as better handwriting and manual dexterity.
How Art Originates
Art is fruit of memories, imagination and observations. Memories are the inspiration, imagination provides the material for constructing art and observations help the artist make sense of the project, giving it direction and meaning.
Drawing is the best "starter" art for young children and it is also something that can be enjoyed and perfected as the child matures. Drawings can be inspired though observation or imagination although, observational drawing is preferable for very young children as they will find the activity of drawing more enjoyable and effective as a creative outlet if they are able to draw some common and recognizable subjects such as stick people, houses, trees, flowers, animals and the like.
While most children benefit by early instruction and practice in observational drawing and modeling, it is important to remember their age when you are deciding upon observational subject matter. Drawing skill is based on practiced observation and children who do not realize that will be very frustrated by their inability to draw more realistically. Regular observation drawing and painting can be enjoyable and stimulating for preschool aged children and these children should be encouraged to practice these art forms even when most of their work product is crude and unrecognizable.
Drawing Instruction
At the preschool age, a child is less inclined to follow verbal instructions and restrictions. Art learning is best kept in the self-initiated fun category in order to promote long-term interest. An adult can offer to teach, but not demand it. Since preschool age children do much of their learning through play, art should be encouraged informally, always with a focus on fun.
It is easier to teach observational drawing to preschool age children as children younger than five years old have not yet reached the stage of self-criticism and frustration. Younger children are less apt to compare their drawings to others and they are less self-critical and more tolerant of their own work.
Learning to draw is more rewarding as drawings become more realistic. There are certain techniques to help young children along the path to more realistic renderings:
TACTILE PRACTICE. Observation is a total sensory experience, not simply a visual experience. Have your child run his finger slowly along the side of the object he wishes to draw. Talk about the movements and the change of direction as your child runs his finger along the object. "Now you are going sideways…see how it slants a little…". Ask the child to describe the motions in the same way.
AIR PRACTICE. Ask the child to finger trace the object in the air as he closely observes it from about a foot away. Once again, talk about the motions, so each little change of direction causes my finger to copy it in the air. This activity forces the child to start looking at the edge of a thing to learn to see one actual line rather than the overall shape.
BLINDER PRACTICE. After feeling the object and tracing it in the air, the child can try a practice edge line on paper using a soft lead pencil. Tell the child to concentrate on a particular line rather than the overall shape and to make a drawing of that line without looking at the paper. Observation is not learned by looking down at the paper while drawing but rather, by concentrating on the thing that is being studied.
A REAL DRAWING. After practicing all the edges, it is time to draw the whole object. Again, remind the child to look at the object most of the time rather than staring down at the paper. Before the child begins a drawing, ask questions that encourage the study of edges and contours. Ask for size comparisons and light/dark comparisons as even very young children will be able to grasp these concepts and attention to these details will strengthen the drawing.
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