Early Childhood: Artistic Development

Handedness

• Handedness: preference for using a particular hand.
• Handedness is not always clear-cut; not everybody prefers one hand for every task.
• Boys are more likely to be left-handed than are girls.
• Arguments of nature versus nurture might both be used to help explain handedness.

Perceptual Development

• Children about 3 to 4 years old are increasingly efficient at detecting boundaries in colors.
• Visual scanning and tracking: By 4 to 5 years old, eye muscles are developed enough to move their eyes efficiently across a series of letters.
• Eye problems become more apparent in this period.

Young Children’s Artistic Drawings

• Research findings:
  • Artistic interest varies in children.
  • Unintended irregularities suggest spontaneity, freedom, and directness.
  • Lavish colors don’t quite match the reality of subjects.
  • One basic form can cover a range of objects.
  • Art conveys feelings and ideas.
  • Drawing and constructing provide opportunities to problem solve in creative ways.

Drawing: Developmental Changes and Stages

• Progression from scribbling to picture making:
• By age 2, children can scribble.
• Placement stage: 2- to 3-year-olds’ drawings are drawn on a page in placement patterns.
• Shape stage: 3-year-olds’ drawings consist of diagrams in different shapes.
• Design stage: 3- to 4-year-olds’ drawings might mix two basic shapes into more complex designs.
• Pictorial stage: 4- to 5-year-olds’ drawings depict objects that adults can recognize.

Children Art in Context

• Claire Golomb’s research focuses on the inventive problem solving that goes into children’s artistic efforts.
• Developmental changes depend on talent, motivation, familial support, and cultural values.
• Art flourishes in sociocultural contexts where tools are available, and the activity is valued.
• In China, children are shown precise steps and prescribed brush strokes for drawing and painting
• U.S. art education emphasizes independence—finding one’s own style—and copying others is thought to stifle creativity
• Even though Chinese children are taught how to draw, their artistic products are original
• Cross-cultural research indicates that children benefit from adult guidance in learning to draw