5.1: Creating Relevant, Meaningful, and Appropriately Challenging Art Learning Experiences

In Chapter 4, we explored how to create lessons in social studies that are relevant, meaningful, and appropriately challenging for young children. Now, we will shift our focus to applying these same principles to art activities. Art lessons, like social studies, should align with developmental domains to foster a holistic approach to child development, integrating physical, cognitive, social-emotional, language, and creative growth. Below, you will review the developmental domains for the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) and the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS), and you will explore how developmental domains align with art activities.

Using Relevant Developmental Domains in Art Learning Experiences

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (HSELOF), also referred to as the ELOF. (Child Development)

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards Domains

1. Physical Development (WMELS Health and Physical Domain)

Art activities involving manipulating materials and tools help children refine fine motor skills while expressing themselves creatively. For example, activities like cutting, gluing, and painting promote physical development while encouraging exploration of textures and materials.

Example: A textured collage activity where children use fabric, paper, and other materials to create artwork. Fine motor skill development is supported through the process of gluing, cutting, and arranging these materials.

2. Social-Emotional Development (WMELS Social and Emotional Development Domain)

Art supports self-expression, collaboration, and the understanding of emotions. By engaging in group art activities, children learn valuable social skills like cooperation, turn-taking, and emotional expression.

Example: A group mural project where children contribute their own artistic elements to a shared artwork. This activity fosters social skills while encouraging emotional expression through creative art.

3. Language Development (WMELS Language Development and Communication Domain)

Art often involves storytelling, discussion, and vocabulary building, which are crucial for language development. Art activities encourage children to describe their artwork, explaining their process and engaging in conversations about their creations.

Example: A clay sculpting activity where children create animals or objects and then describe their creations to the class. This encourages the use of new vocabulary and sentence structures, enhancing language development.

4.  Creative and Aesthetic Development (WMELS Approaches to Learning Domain)

Art activities inherently foster creativity and aesthetic development. These activities provide children the freedom to explore materials and techniques, allowing them to express their own creative ideas and problem-solving abilities.

Example: A free-choice art station where children experiment with various mediums, such as watercolors, crayons, and pastels, encourages self-expression and fosters creative development.

5. Cognitive Development (WMELS Cognition and General Knowledge Domain)

Art activities challenge children to think critically, solve problems, and express ideas visually. These activities stimulate creativity and encourage cognitive processing, especially in how children think about color, shape, and form.

Example: A painting activity where children create landscapes representing different times of the day. This promotes cognitive development as children categorize and reason about their visual choices, fostering understanding of concepts like color, light, and time

6. Cultural and Linguistic Development

Art activities that explore diverse cultural traditions and artistic practices help foster cultural appreciation and linguistic development. These activities are personally meaningful and culturally enriching.

Example: An exploration of Indigenous art, where children learn about weaving or beadwork, followed by creating their versions of these artworks. This encourages cultural appreciation while integrating storytelling and language from the cultures being studied.

Creating Relevant, Meaningful, and Appropriately Challenging Art Learning Experiences

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Relevance, Meaningfulness, and Challenge

While it is essential to align developmental domains with art activities, educators should also follow a planning cycle to ensure the lessons are meaningful, developmentally appropriate, and engaging. To create art lessons that are both meaningful and developmentally appropriate, educators should use the cycle of observation, documentation, reflection, planning, and implementation. By observing children’s interests and developmental stages, educators can tailor art activities that are not only engaging but also appropriately challenging, ensuring that the lessons are aligned with the children's needs and interests.  Review the Teaching Cycle images below.

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): Curriculum Planning Cycle

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards

Steps for Planning Art Lessons:

1. Observation: Observe children's current interests and skill levels to identify materials and activities that will engage them meaningfully.
2. Documentation: Record observations to track individual and group dynamics. This helps in planning lessons that meet children’s needs and in tracking progress.
3. Reflection: Reflect on how children respond to art activities. Evaluate whether the activities are appropriately challenging and adjust accordingly.
4. Planning: Plan art activities that connect to children’s real-world experiences and interests. Choose materials and processes that are both engaging and developmentally appropriate.
5. Implementation: Introduce the activity with clear instructions, allowing children to explore and experiment while ensuring the process is accessible and enjoyable.

Preschool Art Experience Example: My Neighborhood Collage

Objective: Children create a collage representing their neighborhood, developing fine motor skills, creativity, and spatial awareness.

Materials: Construction paper, magazine cut-outs, glue sticks, scissors, markers, stickers, textured materials (fabric, cotton balls), butcher paper.

Process: After a discussion about neighborhoods, children select materials to depict elements like houses, parks, and people. They cut, glue, and arrange pieces on butcher paper, expressing their understanding of community and refining motor skills.

Planning Steps for My Neighborhood Collage

Planning Cycle Steps	Alignment to 'My Neighborhood Collage'
1. Observation	Observe children's conversations and play about places like homes, parks, stores, and schools. Notice fine motor abilities with scissors, markers, and glue.
2. Documentation	Record children's comments about their neighborhoods and document motor skill use. Use notes, photos, or video clips to capture individual and group interests and skills.
3. Reflection	Reflect on children's engagement and skill levels: Are they able to express neighborhood ideas? Are motor tasks manageable? Adjust support and materials if needed.
4. Planning	Plan collage activities that incorporate familiar neighborhood elements children have mentioned. Offer a variety of textured materials and pre-cut options for different skill levels. Scaffold for those who need support.
5. Implementation	Introduce the collage with a group discussion. Model choosing and arranging materials. Encourage exploration and creativity. Support children as needed while promoting independence.

Toddler Art Experience Example: My Helpers Around Me

Objective: Toddlers explore community helpers by creating an art project, promoting social-emotional learning and motor skills development.

Materials: Large mural paper, crayons, pre-cut pictures of community helpers, fabric scraps, glue sticks.

Process: Toddlers add pictures and textures to a mural representing community helpers like firefighters and doctors, learning about their roles and practicing fine motor skills through gluing and arranging.

Planning Steps for Community Helpers Mural

Planning Cycle Steps	Alignment to 'Community Helpers Mural'
1. Observation	Observe toddlers' interests in community helpers through play, books, and conversations. Note fine motor skills like grasping crayons or applying glue.
2. Documentation	Record toddlers' comments and actions related to community helpers. Document motor skills and interactions during art activities.
3. Reflection	Reflect on toddlers' engagement with community helper themes and their motor skill development. Adjust materials or the level of support as needed.
4. Planning	Plan the mural activity using community helper pictures that toddlers recognize. Select materials that are easy to grasp and manipulate, and prepare spaces that encourage collaborative work.
5. Implementation	Introduce the mural with a simple explanation about community helpers. Encourage toddlers to select, place, and glue pictures and textures onto the mural. Provide support and praise efforts to foster confidence and skills.

Infant Art Experience Example: Exploring Textures of My World

Objective: Infants explore different textures to support sensory development and introduce basic concepts of community.

Materials: Soft fabric squares, natural objects (leaves, stones), colorful textured paper, baby-safe mirror, plush community helper toys.

Process: Infants engage with textures and explore the concept of community by interacting with soft toys representing helpers (e.g., firefighters, doctors). They explore textures while bonding with caregivers and starting to recognize themselves in a social context

Planning Steps for Exploring Textures of My World

Planning Cycle Steps	Alignment to 'Exploring Textures of My World'
1. Observation	Observe infants' sensory responses to different textures and objects. Note their engagement, preferences, and interactions with caregivers and materials.
2. Documentation	Record infants' tactile exploration, facial expressions, and interactions with the materials and caregivers. Use photos or notes to capture developmental milestones.
3. Reflection	Reflect on infants' sensory engagement, preferences for certain textures, and social interactions. Adjust materials or interactions to match developmental needs.
4. Planning	Select a variety of textures and community-related plush toys based on observed interests and developmental levels. Ensure materials are safe and accessible for exploration.
5. Implementation	Set up a safe, inviting space with diverse textures and community helper toys. Support infants' exploration through gentle encouragement and verbal interaction, fostering sensory development and early social understanding.

By aligning developmental domains with art activities, educators ensure that children engage in meaningful, interdisciplinary learning. These activities foster creativity, fine motor skills, language development, and an understanding of cultural diversity. Using the planning cycle of observation, documentation, reflection, and implementation, educators can create art lessons that are developmentally appropriate and personally relevant for each child.

To further enrich our understanding of creating relevant, meaningful, and appropriately challenging art learning experiences, it is essential to consider the foundational role of creative arts in early childhood development. The creative arts, encompassing visual art, music, drama, and dance, provide natural avenues for children to express themselves and develop critical skills. Integrating these disciplines into our art activities can enhance the developmental domains we aim to support, fostering a holistic approach to child development.

Introduction to the Creative Arts

The creative arts are as natural to young children’s lives as language and play are. The arts build skills such as problem solving and critical thinking; they bring parallel opportunities for the development of language/communication, mathematics, and the development of social and interpersonal skills. The following activities are often referred to as children’s play: scribbling with a crayon, pretending to be a pirate or a bird, humming bits of a tune, banging on a drum, or swaying to music. But these behaviors show elements of artistic expression and creation that support the continuous development of artistic skills. They also show the hallmarks of children’s abilities to express themselves through symbols and aesthetic images.[1]

The creative arts domain is presented in four familiar disciplines:

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Creative Arts Disciplines

Examples of Art	Types of Art
Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\)[2]	Visual Art: The visual arts include the practice of drawing, painting, sculpting, and assembling collages in two or three dimensions. Preschool visual art is process-based and open-ended, allowing children to explore by using a variety of materials. The product is not the focus, though the children will likely view their creation as a masterpiece!
Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\)[3]	Music: Preschoolers love to listen to music as well as sing along and move with music. Music learning in preschool is a time to make new discoveries. Preschoolers can engage in music making, performing rhythms, musical sounds, and passages with a variety of instruments, or simply sing along to a favorite tune.
Figure \(\PageIndex{7}\)[4]	Drama: For preschoolers, this domain involves both spontaneous dramatic play and teacher-structured drama, each of which inspires the other. Preschoolers are naturally inclined to engage in solitary, parallel, and group play and draw on these experiences when acting out situations and using props (with teacher guidance). Similarly, engaging in drama feeds children’s imagination and inspires dramatic play. A goal in dramatic play and drama for preschoolers is unleashing the child’s imagination. Thus, the focus is on children’s creative engagement in drama rather than on actual performance or “the theater.”
Figure \(\PageIndex{8}\)[5]	Dance: The dance domain for preschoolers is interested in the creative and often expressive use of movement. Movement is explored in all its range (e.g., small and large, fast or slow, hopping or marching) and for various purposes, such as learning math or language skills, or for the joy of moving. Dance can be a nonverbal tool for expressing ideas, telling stories, or communicating emotions. It is often rhythmic and accompanied by music. Requiring thinking, social interaction, and physical exercise, dance is a motivating way for preschoolers to engage in learning.

The specific foundations, which are the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that preschool children typically develop in a quality preschool environment as they relate to visual art, music, drama, and dance, are included later in the chapter as each strand is explored.[6]

The Value of Creative Arts

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

• Define creative development in the context of early childhood education and explain its significance in fostering children's cognitive, emotional, and social growth.
• Identify key factors that influence creative development in young children, such as exploration, problem-solving, and expression through various media and activities.
• Explain the process of creative development in young children, highlighting the stages of exploration, experimentation, and expression.
• Describe how early childhood educators can support and nurture the creative process by providing opportunities for hands-on learning, open-ended activities, and encouragement of independent thinking.

Creativity refers to the process through which individuals cultivate and express their creativity, imagination, and originality (Isbell & Yoshizawa, 2016). It encompasses the ability to generate novel ideas, think outside the box, and engage in artistic, innovative, or imaginative activities.

The most common outlets of creative development in early childhood are related to:

• the visual arts (painting, 3-D sculptures with clay or play-dough, drawing, collage, etc.),
• music and movement, and
• dramatic arts (storytelling, use of props, etc.).

Creativity Across All Domains of Learning

However, creative development is not limited to artistic pursuits but extends to problem-solving, critical thinking, and the exploration of new possibilities in various domains. Encouraging children to engage in creative activities stimulates their cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development, fostering qualities such as curiosity, flexibility, resilience, and self-expression.

Creative Meets Cognitive Development

Expression and Communication: Creative activities such as drawing, painting, storytelling, and role-playing provide children with avenues to express themselves and communicate their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Through these activities, children develop language skills, vocabulary, and the ability to articulate their experiences, enhancing their communication abilities.

Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Engaging in creative tasks challenges children to think critically, explore possibilities, and find solutions to problems. Whether it's building with blocks or inventing stories, creative activities stimulate cognitive processes such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, fostering problem-solving skills and strategic thinking.

Figure \(\PageIndex{9}\): "Cross Play in Preschool" by Heather Carter is licensed CC BY-SA.

Imagination and Innovation: Creative development encourages children to tap into their imagination, think imaginatively, and envision new ideas and possibilities. Imaginative play, fantasy stories, and pretend scenarios allow children to explore different perspectives, create imaginary worlds, and develop innovative thinking skills that are essential for adapting to new situations and generating novel ideas.

Creative Meets Social & Emotional Development

Emotional Regulation and Self-Expression: Creative activities provide children with outlets for emotional expression, helping them understand and regulate their emotions. Artistic endeavors, music, dance, and drama allow children to explore their feelings, express themselves authentically, and develop emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-awareness.

Collaboration and Social Skills: Engaging in collaborative creative projects promotes teamwork, cooperation, and social interaction among children. Working together on art projects, storytelling, or dramatic play fosters communication, empathy, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills, enhancing their ability to collaborate effectively with others.

Figure \(\PageIndex{10}\): "Hair Salon" by Heather Carter is licensed CC-BY-SA

Creative Meets Physical Development

Fine Motor Skills: Many creative activities, such as drawing, coloring, painting, cutting, and crafting, require precise hand-eye coordination and manipulation of small objects. These activities help children develop and refine their fine motor skills, including dexterity, grip strength, and hand control. Strengthening fine motor skills is crucial for tasks like writing, tying shoelaces, and using utensils effectively.

Figure \(\PageIndex{11}\): "Wood Working in Preschool" by Heather Carter is licensed CC BY-SA.

Gross Motor Skills: While some creative activities focus on fine motor skills, others involve gross motor movements such as dancing, playing musical instruments, building with blocks, or engaging in outdoor exploration and physical play. These activities promote the development of gross motor skills like balance, coordination, agility, and spatial awareness. Gross motor skills are essential for activities such as running, jumping, climbing, and participating in sports.

Sensory Exploration: Creative activities often involve sensory experiences such as touching different textures, experimenting with colors and shapes, listening to music or sounds, and exploring various materials. Sensory exploration not only stimulates cognitive development but also enhances sensory integration, proprioception, and body awareness. This sensory input contributes to overall physical development and sensory-motor coordination.

Body Movement and Expression: Creative outlets like dance, drama, and expressive arts encourage children to use their bodies as a means of expression and communication. Engaging in rhythmic movements, gestures, poses, and facial expressions not only fosters creativity but also promotes physical expression, body awareness, posture, balance, and control. Dance, in particular, supports cardiovascular health, flexibility, strength, and endurance.

Figure \(\PageIndex{12}\): "Singing" by Heather Carter is licensed CC BY-NC-ND

Creativity Anywhere, Anytime

Creativity can happen anywhere, anytime. Creativity is often a part of play in all areas of the classroom. Here are several examples:

• blocks and building structures,
• constructing with open-ended manipulatives like Zoobs, Magnatiles, Squiz, etc.
• science and experimentation, such as arranging magnetic tubes(opens in new window) to create a ramp system,
• tinkering with technology to develop "improvements", or
• using loose parts to tell a story.

Why the Creative Process is Important...

"Creativity becomes more visible when adults try to be more attentive to the cognitive processes of children than to the results they achieve in various fields of doing and understanding" (Edwards et.al, 1998, p.77). Creativity involves complex ways of thinking yielding diverse pathways, to sometimes similar and sometimes different results. This process can be difficult to study or measure (Isbell & Yoshizawa, 2016).

Figure \(\PageIndex{13}\): "Creativity" is licensed by Denise Krebs CC-BY 2.0

Yet, the process is the underlying foundation for much of children's and humans' development and learning. For example, even the simple task of how to kick a ball in the direction you want it to go requires one to analyze body movements and types of contact with the ball, and assess how much power is applied to the ball. As one practices, one becomes more aware of and in tune with their body, in being able to refine how they are moving in relation to the ball's resulting position, once the kick is made. Repeating the process over and over, and making small adjustments, helps one learn how to kick a ball in the direction you want it to go.

Not every process lends to an enduring product (Isbell & Yoshizawa, 2016), sometimes because of the nature of the project, as such, with the art of kicking a ball. Sometimes it is because the child dismantles their efforts because he/she is finished playing. Other times, it's because the product naturally evolves during the process and does not last.

What children think and what they do as they engage in an activity -- and how their thinking develops and matures as a result -- are the most important aspects of the experience. Some creative activities, however, do result in a product. The distinction is that children select the materials, tools, and techniques to produce their own unique results. The final product is not predetermined by the teacher or copied from another's work, but is instead one of a kind... (Isbell & Yoshizawa, 2016, p. 21)

The Value of Open-Ended Creative Endeavors

How do open-ended art experiences offer so many opportunities for learning? Consider the difference between open-ended and closed-ended questions. Close-ended questions tend to result in one-word answers and limit children's thinking, such as "Did you have a good day?". However, open-ended questions and prompts challenge children to use creative and critical thinking skills (NAEYC, 2015). For example, "How was your day?".

Figure \(\PageIndex{14}\): "Fall art and pinecones". is licensed by Heather Carter CC-BY-SA

This same concept applies to closed vs. open-ended art. Closed-ended projects, such as coloring in a coloring book or gluing pre-cut pieces to make a craft, may support fine motor skills, but open-ended art builds these skills while challenging children's creativity and critical thinking.

References

[1] The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[2] Image by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[3] Image by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[4] Image by Ermalfaro is licensed by CC BY-4.0

[5] Image by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[6] The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission

Isbell, R. & Yoshizawa, S.A. (2016). Nurturing creativity: An essential mindset for young children's learning. National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Edwards, C.P., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (2nd Eds.). (1998). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia Approach-advanced reflections. Ablex.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2015). Expressing creativity in preschool. NAEYC.