Childhood development and artistic development are two separate topics, but how are they important to the art classroom?
All types of development are crucial in a child's life. But within the art classroom there are a certain amount of stages that students will go through. As children they are just discovering their own motor skills and realization of the world around them. They also tend to create repetitive patterns to get a feel for medium and experimenting with how it feels in their hands and the texture it creates as it glide across paper. And as students get older and grow out of certain stages, there are stages of development that they accomplish. Motor skills falls under physical development, then there is cognitive development, emotional development, and social development. These are all important general development stages that students will go through.
In development my main interest is within motor skill development and realization of the world around the student. Within ages 1-5 we can see an understanding and the streghtning of the students fine motor skills. Thought this stage they are scribbling, uncontrolled (ages 1-2) and then controlled, and then they begin to name things within their art works. This stage is called the manipulative stage.
Early figurative drawing stage begins in ages 4-5, this is where eveerything seems new. Students are aware of their surroundings. Students continue to use the new sense of knowing and surroundings that they are able to verbalize what their scribbles mean or are saying. They then begin to earn a sense of self, and the new world emerges. The student does not yet understand composition, or correct color, or proportion. In these early stages it is vastly important to incorporate the arts because their brains are impressionable and the younger student absorb more material and can adjust accordingly; better than the adult brain. It has been found that in studies children that work with the arts at a young age and teachers that incorporate it in their younger classes achieve more academic success.
Incorporating the importance or creating and discovering within the art classroom with younger students, means they are more involved in their learning processes. Art classes and activities provide an outlet for students feeling and thoughts; along with keeping them engaged and interested in their learning. Students will understand better and take more from a lesson if it is an activity hands on and keeps them engaged. Participating in their own creative processes helps to gain focus and they take their work seriously. They also work hard to active their goals!
“Especially for young children who are still developing key cognitive and motor skills, art enables them to work on their own projects that are applicable to daily life.”
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