The two-and-a-half-year-old boy very carefully drew one short yellow line on his paper, a short red line under it, then one short green line, followed by one short blue line. His mother, excited to finally understand his artwork, exclaimed, “What a beautiful rainbow!” The child, crestfallen, blurted between tears, “But it’s Elmer!”
Elmer is a multicolored, patchwork elephant made famous in a series of picture books by David Mckee. Just as the mom suspected, the child was making the leap from the simple pleasure of scribbling to symbolic representations of objects. He was thinking like an artist – drawing to make meaning from his experiences, in this case a book he had read. What the mom missed was an opportunity to highlight his higher level thinking and reinforce his art and creative development.
Children Learn About the World Through Art
For young children, art is a concrete way of learning about the world. Through drawing, painting, and sculpting dough they practice fine motor skills, have sensory experiences, and communicate feelings and ideas. Art making can also develop creativity, problem solving, and language. In an interview with Suite 101, early childhood and museum educator Inga Vintimilla says, “By asking about their artwork, you are showing that you are interested in what the child can accomplish and recognize that he or she is an artist, regardless of age or skill level.”
Praise May Stunt Creative Growth
However, Ms. Vintimilla cautions that “You do want to be careful how you talk about the artwork.” Surprisingly, one of the worst things parents and teachers can do is to praise a young child’s work. Educator and author Alfie Kohn, in an article for Parents magazine (2001) writes that general praise, such as “good job” or “How beautiful!” actually stunts creative growth. He cites research showing that when children were praised for one creative task, they did a poor job on the next.
Kohn lists two reasons why praise may backfire in creative tasks. First, children may begin doing art only for the praise, losing the intrinsic pleasure and thereby doing it less often. Second, children may think about the reward of praise at the end of the work and attempt to complete the work in such a way as to guarantee that reward. In other words, they will do what they think an adult wants of them rather than take risks.
Get the Child to Talk About Art
To enhance art and creative development for young children, teachers and parents should focus on responding to the art, in the same way they would if visiting a museum. Focus on elements of art, such as line, color, shape, and texture, or on the effort that went into creating a work of art. In this way, adults encourage children to reflect on the process of making art, understand art as a method of communication, and develop descriptive language.
The best approach, if possible, is to get a child to talk about his or her own art before an adult jumps in with his or her own opinion. When a child displays his or her just completed artwork and says, “Look what I did!” the best adult response is to say nothing. Give the child time to expand on his or her comment, and only then initiate a conversation based on their explanation.
However, very young children and those who are not accustomed to talking about their art may have nothing additional to say. Ms. Vintimilla points out that even professional artists sometimes have difficulty explaining their work. Parents and teachers can try to elicit a conversation by commenting on the elements of art while refraining from anything that smacks as a value judgment. For example, instead of saying, “I like all the green in your picture,” they may say, “I see you’ve used a lot of green. How did you choose that color?”
Open-Ended Questions Develop Art and Language
Adults can also encourage children to think about their artwork by asking questions, such as, “How did you decide what colors to use?” or “What made you put the bumpy cloth down here?” Open ended questions – ones that do not have one right answer – will give children the most practice in language use when they respond. However, the one open ended question not to ask is, “What did you make?” Young children can get discouraged when adults do not understand their artwork.
While it may seem intimidating to talk to children about their scribbles and blots, Ms. Vintimilla says that the positive impact on a child’s self-esteem and language development are worth the effort. She says, “In fact talking to your child about his art might take you into a discussion that you never expected as the child explains a complex story behind the drawing or painting – giving you a wonderful glimpse into his imagination.”
Nicole Fravel - Ms. Fravel is an educator, curriculum developer, and parent with over 15 years of experience in elementary and early childhood ...
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