Art Exercises and Activities
Adapted from an article in “Explorations with Young Children”
by Leah Levinger and Ann-Marie Mott

Art is a vital part of the curriculum for children of all ages. You don’t need to be an artist yourself to be effective providing art activities for children.

Exercises

These exercises will help you and your colleagues develop practices to support an art program.

• By yourself or with a few colleagues, work with an unfamiliar material, exploring and “messing about” with it. Keep a record of how you are feeling.

  	•	before you start
  	•	as you encounter the material
  	•	as you form initial images in your head of what you want to make
  	•	as you work, the way your images changed or modified
  	•	as you view each other’s work
  	•	as others’ comments affect you

  
  
• Listen to yourself in the course of a week as you talk with children about their artwork. If possible, write down your comments. Ask yourself, “Are my comments objective and nonjudgmental? Do they focus on the process and the child’s effort? Do they have the effect of motivating and encouraging the child?” Share your observations with a colleague. Together, think about how you can improve your responses to children’s artwork.
  
  
• Look around your environment. Ask yourself, “Are the room and materials supportive of children’s artistic endeavors?” For example, what kinds of materials are available (for collage, drawing, etc.)? How does clean up occur? How is children’s artwork displayed? Identify any concerns or problems and think about how they can be resolved. Brainstorm solutions with a colleague.
  
  
• Think about your curriculum. Are there ways to incorporate art into other curriculum areas?
  
  
• Role play a discussion. For example, Jane teaches 4-year-olds and her friend Reuben teaches 7-year-olds. They have a similar problem; each has a child in class who, for the past several months, after attempting any artwork, grows frustrated with it and destroys it. What should each of them do? Keep in mind the inevitable differences in personality of the two teachers as well as the ages and personalities of the two children.
  
  
• Role play a teacher-parent conference with a colleague.

  	•	One parent accepts art in curricula but wants the child’s work to be more conventional and representational
  	•	Another parent wants more academics and feels that art is a “frill” and a waste of time
  	•	Talk the situations through and then reverse the roles.

  
  
• Run a parent workshop on art. What materials will you present to them to “mess with”? How much direction will you give them? What ideas will you deal with in the discussion?