Painting at Romp & Rollick
This week we are going to take a closer look at the way in which we think about art for young children at Romp & Rollick, specifically painting. If you have to come to class for a while you will recognize a lot of this information, but perhaps you wondered what the motivation and justification was for offering art the way we do. I hope you find some answers and if you have any questions, as always, I am here.
Meeting Children Where They Are and Letting Children Be in Charge
Young children, even very young children, don’t need to be told how to engage in the artistic process. They naturally want to explore materials and get a thrill out of making marks. Out of respect to this natural ability we should step out of the way and simply observe what our kids can do. If a child is given regular opportunities for free exploration of art materials then they will naturally make many discoveries for themselves and they will develop their own artistic style and an immense ability to express that voice.
When I design the art experiences for Ah-Ha Fun Time I spend a huge amount of time planning with the development of the children in mind. I want to offer engaging materials and an enticing prompt. I also want to set them up for success by not asking them to do things they can’t do independently. I am thoughtful of what some children’s needs will be during and after each experience; will some children want to wipe their hands immediately, will each child have ready access to each color/brush, etc?
All of this thought and planning is to support the child’s success, and also to allow the parent to have a moment where they can step back and simply watch their child go. There is a lot that can be learned about our children as we watch them engage in novel experiences. Are they hesitant, or do they jump right in? Do they work better solo, or in a group? Do they like to chat while they work, or do they get silent and focused? All of these observations can give us clues to their disposition, which tends not to change as we grow, and can help us support them in future endeavors.
I am very careful in any modeling I do. I want to give the children enough information that they know what to do and they are enticed to jump in, but not so much that their exploration is limited to only what I have shown is possible. When I first started teaching I worked in a kindergarten class. I found that if I was introducing an art experience to the whole class and I drew a flower, for example, then over half of my students would also draw a flower. This is because they respected me and wanted to please me by following what they thought were my directions. Young children can’t be expected to understand the idea of a symbolic modeling. The words “This is just one example of what you can do, but you do whatever you want” doesn’t hold as much weight as the power of suggestion and the desire to please.
The modeling I do usually suffices for most kids to get started. When a child is more hesitant I may ask the parents to get their hands in the paint or clay. But it is important to engage as if you were a young child, and push the paint around just the way your child might. If they see you engaging in the material in a way that is not available to them due to their development it can cause bad feelings about their own ability and it will negatively affect their experience and exploration. When an adult provides a representational model for children who are not ready to draw representationally, the children will often feel their exploration is not worthy and they begin to copy or become dependent on the adult. This is a pattern that can emerge and it can cause children to become reliant on asking you to do all the drawing and painting.
If you find yourself already in this pattern or when your child gets a bit older and they deeply desire the ability to draw whatever they want, you will be asked to draw something for them. “Draw me a horse,” for example. A good response might be, “I want to see how you draw it.” If they assert that they can’t, you can ask them, “what shapes make up a horse?” and help them break it down, but if you do it for them, it will only stunt their ability and make them feel that drawing is not for them.
Painting Phases
When a child is offered regular exposure to paint and they are allowed to have free exploration of the material they will pass through several painting phases as they grow and develop.
Motions and the Marks They Make is the first phase young children will pass through. This usually occurs between the ages of 1-3 years old. One of the primary features of this stage of painting is the discovery of the sensory experience that painting provides. Children find great pleasure in moving the paint around the paper with their brush and hands by using large gestures. This sensory experience is described in the book Experience and Art: Teaching Children to Paint (Smith, Fucigna, Kennedy, and Lord, 1993). “Paintings are made with but a few strokes on them as children use swiping motions…with a mass of mixed colors in which tangled traces left by zigzag arm motions can be seen” (p.18). This is where most of my students are, and where they should be!
The next phase they enter is called Finding Out About Line Shape and Color. This typically occurs between the ages of 3-5. One of the hallmarks of this phase is experimentation with shapes. For example, you will see your child experimenting with circle shapes, or purposely making lines or dots. As Smith et al. describe it, “They discover the capacity of paint to cover a specifically shaped area of paper surface and explore possible shapes through variations on circles” (p. 24).
The last phase I’ll mention is Designing, which usually occurs between the ages of 4-6. Children who are painting in the designing phase begin to make use of the entire piece of paper in ways that suggests they have become aware of the page as an entity with a certain amount of space, and they are beginning to understand how to layout the whole page so it is unified and balanced. Your child will understand that there is a top, bottom, and edges of the page, and they will be interested in painting in each area. You will see your child play with borders, symmetry, unity and visual interest as they plan their painting out.
Your child may not go directly from one phase to the next, just like with all development. You may see evidence of designing and then they go back to motions and the marks they make. Just like how a baby might roll over one day and not do so again for two months. There is not a straight line for these things. You may see representational drawings and painting begin to emerge first as recognizable shapes and then simple images when your child is between 3-6 years old. There is no rush to get here and we should let our children develop this ability naturally.
Support vs Praise
How we respond to our child’s artwork can also have a huge effect on their free exploration and their development as artists.
We, of course, mean well when we lavish our children with praise. But what is the result in their thoughts and motivations when do this? Often times an excess of praise communicates falseness because we are not responding to our child’s true efforts. This dynamic can also teach our children to attempt to please their parent/teacher rather than themselves. So, we need to begin to turn toward the child and their true efforts and respond likewise. In turn, the child will also begin to think about herself – how and what she is doing as she works.
Some parents might think, “If I can’t say ‘its beautiful,’ or ‘I love it!’ then I won’t know what to say at all!” Try to turn the question from “Do I like it?” into “What did my child do?” and “How did they do it?” Instead, leave the child to talk, if he cares to, about what it stands for and what it means to him.
Comment on:
Lines, shapes, colors, patterns, textures;
How they are repeated;
How they are varied;
How they are arranged.”
Such as:
“I can see you made a big circle! How did you make that mark?”
“You have purple on your page! I didn’t give you purple! How did you make it?”
“Dots! How did you make dots?”
“You covered your whole page with paint!”
“You made marks on both sides of your page, but not in the middle! How interesting!”
When we respond to their work as it appears on the page we are respecting them as true artists. We are cueing them to reflect on how they made their painting and this can help build technical skills when they come to paint again. If you truly love their work, hang it in a prominent location in your home and/or frame it. These actions will show them that you value their hard work.
Also, ask yourself, does all artwork aim to be beautiful? Wouldn’t we rather give our children an invitation to express their full range of emotions through art, even the dark and ugly ones?
Lots of big ideas here, and some are very disruptive to common parenting behaviors. All of this information is provided with love and free of judgment, and you may do with it what you want. Please ask me any questions that may have come up!
Love,
Meryl
Bibliography:
Smith, N, Fucigna, C, Kennedy, M, & Lord, L. (1993). Experience and art: teaching children to paint. New York, NY: Teachers College Pr.