Art Experiences for All Ages Janet Oesterling, M.S. www.childcaretrainingonline.com Creativity/Art Creativity means using one’s imagination.  Children are born explorers.  They are imaginative and creative as they explore a world that is new, fresh and exciting to them.  Creativity is expressed verbally and nonverbally though pretending, body movement, sculpture, drawing/painting and more.  Creativity, according to Piaget begins in the preoperational state of development (starting at 2 years) when a child begins to be able to think about objects and people independent of his/her own self/actions.  He/she can picture a dog even without one nearly.  Encouraging children to express and see the world through all their senses can enhance creativity. Developmental Characteristics – Infants (Birth – 18 months) Infants are in the sensorimotor stage of development.  They learn though sensorimotor actions; grasping, walking, crawling, looking, putting objects in their mouths, but they don‘t understand an object outside of their own actions on it.  Change the child’s surroundings, so they can experience different sensations.  Be sure children have interesting things to see, touch, hear, smell and as appropriate to taste Toddlers (18-36 months) Still Sensorimotor (though 24 months) but moving on to Piaget’s preoperational stage of development, children enjoy sand, mud, snow, play dough, water, shaving cream and ”making things with these media: Single color paints, crayons and a big sheet of paper can be very exciting.  Children will scribble or make marks, experimenting with a specific medium.  Cardboard boxes for climbing in and out of, putting on their heads, putting things in and taking things out of and stacking can be fun and creative for children at this age. Preschoolers – (3-5 years) Preschool children begin to think about objects and people independent of their own self and actions.  They can picture something without having it near.  They begin to “pretend” and develop a sense of humor and teasing.  Collages of anything: foods, magazine pictures, leaves, trash various textured objects, etc. allow children the freedom to create with few rules and boundaries.  This fosters creativity and imagination.  Story telling is fun for more verbal children.  Physical movement to music and songs that the children participate in can also be fun and creative. School-age (6 years and up) Children begin to think logically and systematically about  objects and events in their world.  They are capable of learning  about the objects and events in their world.  They are capable of learning the complex rules of games and inventing their own rules.  Piaget considers this the concrete-operational stage.  Children are increasing their exploration of their imagination and creativity, given the opportunity, space and encouragement.  Peer pressure inhibits some of their creativity so be aware and create an environment that supports the individual child. Helping children express creativity There are a  variety of ways for helping children to express creativity.  Consider the following ·    Help children accept change ·    Help children realize that some problems have no easy answer ·    Help children recognize that many problems have a number of possible answers ·    Help children learn to judge and accept their own feeling ·    Reward children for being creative ·    Help children feel joy in their creative productions and in working though a problem. ·    Help children appreciate themselves for being different ·    Help children develop perseverance – “stick-to-it-ness” Children benefit form creativity in many ways including: ·    Developing their individuality ·    Developing new skills ·    Learning to seek many solutions to a problem ·    Developing their potential to think ·    Learning to feel good about themselves. Identify Creativity in children.  It is important to recognize four main concepts when identifying creativity in children ·    All children are creative to some degree ·    Some children are more creative than others ·    Some are more creative in one area than another ·    Creativity can be destroyed by a person who does not appreciate the creative act or the child who expresses the act. Creative Art Activities ·    Create yourself – large paper, markers, glue, and various items to decorate ·    Pipe cleaner sculptures – create sculptures from pipe cleaners ·    Paper Beads – paper, gift-wrap, bags, and magazines: round wooden toothpicks, glue, wire, or needle or thread, hairspray or spray lacquer. ·    Paper Bag Art – brown paper bags, magazines and catalogs, glue ·    Tin Foil Creatures – tin foil, masking tape, paint, decorations