Why All Children Need Art - 5 Things You Should Know
- Young children are active learners; they learn through play. The art area is a place to play. A piece of paper at the art table or easel is a playground and crayons, markers, and paints become play tools. Scraps for collage and construction, play dough, and clay also serve as creative tools for play and self-expression.
- The learning cycle begins with awareness that leads to exploration, inquiry, and utilization. Children need art to discover how to interpret color, texture, form, and space.
- Children need the widest variety of materials possible to enable them to examine the values and discover the properties of these materials. Art increases discovery and understanding.
- Children need opportunities to develop their own marks and symbols while drawing, painting, and making three-dimensional projects as their own imagination directs them.
- Many young children show a preference and aptitude for the expressive arts. These spatial, musical, and kinesthetic intelligences, as identified by Howard Gardner (1993), need to be nurtured and encouraged.