Why Do Some Teachers Resist Offering Appropriate,
Open-ended Art Activities for Young children?
By Chris Mulcahey Szyba
“I have so much to do tonight,” my teacher friend said during our telephone
conversation. “I have to finish cutting out petals so the kids can put them together to
create flowers tomorrow.” When I suggested that she allow the children to make
their own petals and flowers she replied that they wouldn’t look as good on the
bulletin board she was designing for open house at her school. I felt critical but kept
my composure until I hung up.
I truly couldn’t believe it. Are there really teachers still designing art activities
for children in this way? And after all that’s been written about avoiding patterns and
predetermined outcomes? Why are some teachers providing such controlled art
activities for children? What’s wrong with this approach? What could they be doing
instead?
I have visited many elementary schools in my state, and I have seen the
different approaches to art that teachers provide for young children. Some teachers
provide rich, individual, and open-ended activities, while others present projects like
my friend’s, for which the children simply do what the teacher does or what the
teacher tells them to do.
In one classroom I visited, the teacher proudly showed off her classroom in
the new school. She had covered all her bulletin boards with wrapping paper, had
selected fancy, pre-made borders, and had purchased cutouts of fall scenes, which
were displayed around the room. This classroom showed no evidence that children
actually occupied the space.
Many curricula in education for kindergarten and primary-grade children
revolve around or include art activities, yet some teachers still follow a formulaoriented agenda in which all that the children are allowed to do is follow directions.
The results all look the same. This does not provide children with experiences that
will help them develop into creative thinkers.
Lowenfeld and Brittain (1987) stress the importance of early art experiences
that allow children to develop self-expression. Recipe-oriented activities do not allow
for this type of experience. Nor do they allow children to realize the charm and
beauty in the variety of aesthetic artworks they and their classmates will create.
What kinds of art experiences should classroom teachers provide for children?
Art activities should be chosen with the same rationale that child development
specialists use to recommend and select toys for children. They recommend that we
choose toys that are open-ended that provide a variety of options, such as blocks and
Legos (Bredekamp & Copple 1997). If there is only one way to play with a toy, it is
very limiting to the child’s imagination and, in fact, children tire of it quickly.
Children may prefer to create something different every day with their toys,
and this kind of play is more valuable for development. We can choose art activities
with similar ideas in mind: What can children do with this? Activities should be
planned so that the child has input, so that the results of each child has input, so that
the results of each child are different. (Would we go to an art museum to view works
that are all the same?) It is important for a teacher not to provide a finished example
of an art activity. This will limit the child’s ideas.
Young children need many appropriate chances to make choices, and here is
an opportunity for us to give them freedom to do so. Children, if allowed, are
extremely creative and revel in the opportunity to choose materials. If children have
choices to make, they are learning how to make decisions. If they make a decision
they are not comfortable with, they are gaining knowledge nonetheless.
The simplest choices for teachers become major decision making opportunities
for children. What color paper to choose, what color crayons or paint, what shape
and size of paper, which way to hold the paper are all options the child should have.
Children may require more time to work if many decisions must be made, but the
time is well spent. A red crayon looks different on a yellow paper than it does on a
green paper. By choosing, children will select different combinations of materials and
slowly learn more about those materials’ properties as well as the effect one material
has on another.
Children benefit from ample opportunity to combine materials. Children can
combine most media to provide rich, creative results. They can use markers and
crayons; watercolors and crayons; markers and water; cut paper, crayons, and paint;
chalk, water, and markers - combinations that can produce myriad effects. Children
who get to combine materials will discover the properties of each material as well as
new and varied techniques.
Each time a child uses a new medium, a period of manipulation occurs while
the child becomes familiar with the material’s possibilities. Some children may
experiment and explore briefly, but others may prolong the discovery.
It is important to understand that a child’s work may not always be
representational. Sometimes the creative product may be abstract. The drawing or
painting may be a picture of what a sunny day feels like rather than what it actually
looks like, or what flowers smell like may be completely different than their
appearance suggests (Herberholz & Hanson 1990); the child may say she is painting
how flowers smell. The work could be nonobjective, a mood, a design, a picture of
nothing that we can label. When a four-year-old was asked to describe what he had
painted, he said, “It’s nothing. It’s just a picture!”
How teachers can help
Teachers need to welcome conversation among the children while they are
working. Most children love to talk about their work and will gladly tell each other
the pretend story their picture depicts. If it does not seem to be intrusive, an adult
can encourage a child to describe the elements she is using -- lines, colors, shapes,
textures-- rather than what the picture represents. What happens when the pressure
on a tool is changed or an element is used in a repetitious way -- these are important
because they can provide new information for the child (Sharp 1976).
A teacher’s remarks should be specific to what each child is creating rather
than general remarks that could be directed to anyone in the group. “I see you are
working very hard, Tommy” is a general comment even though the child’s name is
used. You do not need to be looking at the child’s work to make it. But if you say,
“You have used red and yellow in lots of places, Emily,” this shows the child that you
are attending to her work. Talking to a child about her work may provide new
vocabulary and help the child to reflect on her own creation.
By providing open-ended experiences for a child, a teacher helps him develop
self-confidence in his natural creative ability. These experiences stimulate the
imagination and allow the child to think more inventively. We can encourage and
raise original ideas. A child’s personality and viewpoint are reflected in his natural
artwork, and teachers can show respect for the child by encouraging his own way of
working with art material (Colbert & Taunton 1989). A healthy attitude toward
creating that begins in early childhood can continue throughout the child’s life.
References
Bredekamp, S., & C. Copple, eds. 1997. Developmentally appropriate practice in
early childhood programs. Rev. ed. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Colbert, C. 1984. Status of the visual arts in early education. Art Education 37
(4): 28-31.
Colbert, C., & M. Taunton. 1989. Significant beginnings. School Arts 88 (8):
37-38, 55.
Edwards, B. 1979. Drawing on the right side of the brain. Los Angeles: Jeremy P.
Archer.
Herberholz, B., & M. Hanson. 1990. Early childhood art. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C.
Brown.
Sharp, P. 1976. Aesthetic response in early education. Art Education 29 (5): 2529.
For further reading
Bettone, M. 1995. From our readers. Art education. Youth Children 50 (4): 3.
Chenfeld, M.B. 1994. Creative experiences for young children. Orlando, FL:
Harcourt Brace.
Clemens, S.G. 1991. Art in the classroom: Making every day special. Young
Children 46 (2): 4-11.
Colbert, C., & M. Taunton. 1990 Discover art kindergarten. Worcester, MA:
Davis.
Cole, E., & C. Schaefer. 1990. Can young children be art critics? Young
Children 45 (2): 33-38.
Cox, M. 1997. Drawing of people by the under-5s. Bristol, PA: Falmer
de la Roche, E. 1996. Snowflakes: Developing meaningful art experiences for
young children. Young Children 51 (2): 82-83.
Dever. M.T., & E.J. Jared. 1996. Remember to include art and crafts in your
integrated curriculum. Young Children 51 (3): 69-73.
Dighe, J., Z. Calomiris, & C. Van Zetphen. 1998. Nurturing the language of art
in children. Young Children 53 (1): 4-9.
Edwards, L.C., & M.L. Nabors. 1993. The creative arts process: What it is and
what it is not. Young Children 48 (3): 77-81.
Engel, B.S. 1995. Considering children’s art: Why and how to value their works.
Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Engel, B.S. 1996. Learning to look: Appreciating child art. Young Children 51 (3): 7479.
Feeney, S., & E. Moravick. 1987. A thing of beauty: Aesthetic development in
young children. Young Children 42 (6): 7-15.
Hurwitz, A., & M. Day. 1991. Children and their art. Orlando, FL: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich.
Johnson, P. 1997. Pictures and words together: Children illustrating and writing
their own books. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Jones, E., & G. Villarino. 1994. What goes up on the classroom walls -- and
why? Young Children 49 (2): 38-40.
Lasky, L., & R. Mukerji. 1980. Art: Basic for young children. Washington, DC:
NAEYC.
Linderman, M.G. 1990. Art in the elementary school. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C.
Brown.
Lowenfeld, V., & W.L. Brittain. 1987. Creative and mental growth. 8th ed. New
York: Macmillan.
Micklethwait, L. 1993. A child’s book of art: Great pictures, first words New York:
Dorling Kindersley.
Schiller, M. 1995. An emergent art curriculum that fosters understanding.
Young Children 50 (3): 33-38.
Schirrmacher. R. 1986. Talking with young children about their art. Young
Children 41 (5): 3-7.
Seefeldt C. 1995. Art -- A serious work. Young Children 50 (3): 39-45.
Swanson, L. 1994. Changes -- How our nursery school replaced adult-directed
art projects with child-directed experiences and changed to an accredited,
child-sensitive, developmentally appropriate school. Young Children 49 (4): 6973.
Wolf, A.D. 1990. Art Postcards -- Another aspect of your aesthetics program?
Young Children 45 (2): 39-43.
Chris Mulcahey Szyba, M.A.T., is an art specialist at the Henry Barnard Laboratory School at
Rhode Island College in Providence, where she also directs Saturday morning art and summer art
programs for children. Her doctoral dissertation, Sixth graders Talk about Their Art:
Understanding Children’s Perspectives, is in progress.
Copyright © 1999 by Chris Mulcahey Szyba, 181 Dexter Lane, North Scituate, RI 02857.
Young Children, January 1999
Permission granted for educational duplication.