Stages of Artistic Development K-3RD

What can you expect when your kindergartener and early elementary child begin to draw and paint? Understanding the stages of artistic development in early childhood is key to enjoying and taking pride in your children's art production as they develop a drawing language of images that tell their stories. See key features of children's art work. Learn about the important symbolic stage and how you can encourage, engage, and provide meaningful learning opportunities for young ones beginning their schooling journey.

Stages of Artistic Development In art, we can notice , encourage , engage , and provide opportunities to expand and strengthen growth and development. Kindergarten Early Elementary ages 5-9 Your child is ready…to Express! The art you see at this stage is based on your child’s ideas, experiences, and imagination, expressed in personal, creative ways through the use of simple lines and shapes that we call symbols or schema. As skills develop, your child makes use of additional details and color in their picture-making for the purpose of identifying people, places, and things.

YOU MAY NOTICE THAT YOUR CHILD: • concentrates on one activity up to 30 minutes or more. • needs multi-step or complex instructions to be broken down into parts. Child feels need to achieve mastery before moving forward. • needs to experience moderate challenges and successes. • learns well through hands-on activities. • recognizes outlines and color as the primary means to representing persons, places, and things in their art. ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD: • To fill the drawing page by asking relevant questions in response to their drawing. Say things like, “I see a picture of you! Can you add anything to the picture to show me where you are standing?” “You added grass, so you are outside! What else did you see while you were there? Can you put that in your picture?” • To develop their own symbolic language. If asked to draw for them… Say things like, “No, but we CAN look at that tree together and see how the branches connect to the trunk…” Using verbal description helps children to understand what they see. If you draw, do so on your own piece of paper. • By offering praise and approval of their art, rather than critique or “helpful” correction. Say things like, “I notice that you drew buttons on the jacket and Daddy is wearing his new plaid shirt. You really noticed a lot of details!” ENGAGE YOUR CHILD BY: • teaching them how to depict an art “theme.” Tell your child that artists draw the things they love and care about. Your child keeps things they love, their toys and personal items, in their bedroom. Ask your child to choose two items and set them on a table. Provide paper and crayons, markers, or paint. Ask your child to make a picture of “My favorite things” while looking at the objects they’ve chosen.

“Expression in art relies upon both the unique personal qualities of its creator and the experiences that child has in life.” – Charles Gaitskel

This is the Symbolic stage. It’s not unusual for children of this age to lose interest when revisiting a previous artwork to “finish.” Unless the project dictates drying times or multiple complex steps, allow your child to finish each artwork in the first sitting, while interest is high! Expression in Early Symbolic Stage • Begins to see the paper as an environment for the symbols they delineate • Rather than using one horizon line to divide ground and sky, paper space is often divided into thirds using two lines; a baseline for ground, and a sky line. Figures, house, and animals appear in the middle section, all touching the baseline. This convention is a well-reasoned approach to their experience of the world, not based on adult methods of perspective or proportion. • Proportion, perspective, and shading are not important to “tell the story”; a person and a house may sit on the same baseline and be of the same height. Expression in Later Symbolic Stage • Feels independent and confident in their ability to express ideas, interests, and experiences through lines and color on paper • Searches for more realism in their art by adding more details with strong dependence on line • Continues to use color for emotional appeal and for its resemblance to the natural object

FEATURES OF THEIR ART

Work with Themes: Can create images from memory in response to a theme. “My trip to Japan” .

Organiza�on of Space : O�en uses three sec�ons: sky, middle, and ground in which to place objects.

Build images with shapes and lines: Organic shapes are connected to build objects such as tree, bird, and home.

Expression : Art is personal (boy and his brother) and inven�ve (sun, cloud, rain, and bird seen at the same �me.)

ART CLASS OBJECTIVES

PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

ARTistic Pursuits resources are designed specifically for your child’s stage of development. We provide learning opportunities with art class objectives that fit your kindergartener and early elementary student’s needs as a growing artist and expand their visual experiences.

https://artisticpursuits.com, @artisticpursuitsinc, alltheanswers@artisticpursuits.com, (303)-467-0504, Artistic Pursuits Inc., 2626 East 109 th Ave., Northglenn, CO 80233 COPYRIGHT ©2024 BRENDA ABBEY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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