Buckner 1

Wynne Buckner University of Missouri LTC 4240 October 17, 2013

Buckner 2 Investigating Childrens Drawing-Development in Art All art requires courage. This is a quote by Anne Tucker, which I think sums up my overall thought on my experience drawing with children. I worked with three different children for this activity. The main purpose was to investigate how children draw and their development in art. I had prior experience drawing and sketching with each of the children before introducing the idea of self-portraits. I was hesitant if the children would be able to complete the task set before them, but with encouragement on my part, and courage on each of their parts, all three children were able to do so. I learned a lot about each child as individual artists. Child A Child A is a 2-years-old girl at the Child Development Lab. She was the child I was concerned the most about when entering this activity because I had previously struggled with her and talking about her sketches. One of Johnsons (2008) tips for teachers for developing verbal and visual literacy through experiences in the visual arts is to share art experiences with the children. I decided to draw a self-portrait of myself while she drew hers. I watched her intently and acknowledged each movement she did. Child A drew two red circles, one above the other. She then took a black marker and scribbled over the bottom circle. I tried to encourage her to look at her face in the mirror and look at her eyes, mouth, nose, etc., but she was unable to translate what she saw onto paper. According to Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970), Child A is in the scribbling stage and represents the human figure. This stage is typical for her age. She was able to name her drawing by saying, Thats me (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 2007). Ways that Child A could be supported in her development of art would be to encourage her to continue drawing and acknowledging what she

Buckner 3 has done. Also, because she is still working on shapes and drawing circles repeatedly, it would benefit her to help her identify shapes in her drawing and talk about objects that are that shape (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1974). Child B Child B is a 2.5-year-old girl at the Child Development Lab. For just a few months older than Child A, she is more developed in her art skills. Luehrman and Unrath (2006) state, They find that sometimes the children they work with fit in generalized expectations for an age range; sometimes they do not (p. 12). Different experiences for the child can affect all aspects of a childs development, including physical, social, emotional development. Child B could have more opportunities, such as at home, with art. According to Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970), Child B is in the preschematic stage. This stage is typically seen in four to seven-year-olds. Although Child B used only a red marker, she was able to draw a large circle for her head, a mouth, nose, hair, and ears. She only drew one eye, but it is very likely that she was probably distracted by another child or activity and forgot to come back to it. The Learning to draw: nurturing the natural article states, The most basic of all the graphic principles is the simplicity principle, which seems to direct the child to depict an object in as simple and undifferentiated a way as conforms to the childs expectations for the depiction of the object (p. 41). Child B drew what she felt was represented, and was an adequate depiction of, her face. In order to support Child B, teachers or parents would most likely just need to give her more experiences exploring with art and drawing. Child B would need to be encouraged to name parts of her drawing and practice adding details or using more than one color (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1974).

Buckner 4 Child C Child C is a 4.5-year-old girl. I did the self-portrait activity with her during her preschool day at work time. Child C used a blue and yellow marker on her drawing. She drew a circle for her head and added hair, eyes, a nose, and a mouth. She did not include a neck, but drew a body that had an irregular and long oval shape to it. Child C drew legs and arms. All four are t-shaped to represent her hands and feet. She also drew a sun in the top right corner of her picture. Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970) would place Child C in the preschematic stage, which is typical for her age group. A major characteristic of her drawing in this stage is that she embellishes symbols. In this case, her self-portrait is the symbol (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1974). Child C paid particular interest to drawing her face. However, like many children in the preschematic stage, there were no details that were unique to her. For example, she drew her face in all blue, including her hair and eyes. If she were concentrating on the details, she would have drawn her hair and eyes at least a different color. In order to support Child C in her drawing, teachers and parents would need to provide experiences such as field trips and visits that furnish vivid impressions for art expression. Provide experiences that will necessitate the use of visual discrimination (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1974). This would allow Child C to work on noticing the differences in objects and have her realize that faces have many similarities, but each one is unique to each person. Ending Thoughts I stated at the beginning of my paper that what I took away from this experience was that all art required courage. No matter how old or young or experienced in art a person is, being

Buckner 5 creative and making art takes courage to try something new or express your thoughts in an unfamiliar form. It took me a while working with each children individually to know how I should approach each child with this activity. Luehrman and Unrath (2006) states, Overall, the more a teacher knows about their students, developmentally and personally, the better able they are to provide a proper and appropriate education for them, making sure they are not left behind (p. 11). I had established in my head what each childs developmental level in art was around prior to this activity and, from there, I knew how to prompt and encourage each child during the activity. Had I not thought about it beforehand, I dont know how successful it would have been. This can be the case for teachers in all aspects of education. By ignoring or not paying attention to where each child is developmentally, you might not use strategies that are most appropriate for your whole (or majority) class.

Buckner 6 References Johnson, M. H. (2008). Developing verbal and visual literacy through experiences in the visual arts. Young Children, 74-79. Learning to draw: nurturing the natural, 39-47. Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W. L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillan. 22-25, 474-479. Luehrman, M. & Unrath, K. (2006). Making theories of childrens artistic development meaningful for pre-service teachers. Art Education, 6-12. Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1974). Beginning stages of visual expression of young children. In Art Experience, Development of Visual Perception,1-4.

Buckner 7 Child A

Child B

Child C