Art in Kindergarten

Product Based Art and the Young Child

"Art" may have a lot of different meanings to different people. I'd like to take a few moments to explain about the art in our classroom. You may be thinking back to your own childhood experience when you completed "crafts" at school and everyone made a paperbag turkey for example. Back when we were little, crafts were very popular. Everyone made the same craft that the teacher modelled and all the "results" looked fairly similar. While at times, we may participate in product based art or an odd craft, for the most part, in Kindergarten, we tend to believe more in:

"The process and not the product"

"Process" means allowing children to explore art materials with freedom without the pressure to copy a model or stay in the lines. Process is experimenting with paints, watching the mixing colors, and feeling the textures of more or less. It may not involve an end product pleasing to the eye, but the product is far more pleasing to the child. Process is gluing various sizes, shapes, and colors of paper together to create a collage. It is experimenting with atypical creation - building with blocks, legos, foam blocks and shaving cream! Process is freedom to experiment and enjoy the feeling of creating without being concerned with the outcome or the product. Process is creating something that is uniquely yours and not a copy of someone else's. It is about being proud of your own imagination, ideas and creativity!

Remember your own experiences as a child. The first time you discovered the magic of colors mixing, the sticky feeling of glue, the feeling of power as you modeled clay, the sense of accomplishment and pride seeing your own beautiful picture proudly displayed in your childhood home. If you did not have these experiences in your own childhood, you can easily create them for your child. To create an environment in your home that fosters creativity and experimentation you can purchase paints, brushes, an easel and paper. The Dollarama is an excellent place to pick up these items cheaply as well. You can also save "junk" (buttons, old greeting cards, ribbons, wrapping paper, doilies, paper tubes, fabric, etc.) for collages.

For Art that is centred around the environment, you can use nature's best collectibles such as pinecones, beach glass, pebbles, leaves, and twigs for building and sculpting. Encourage your child in the artistic process by questioning and commenting on his/her endeavors. Comments should focus on the experience, the process. Avoid asking questions such as, "What are you making?" and, instead, comment on the process, using comments such as, "I like the red color in your picture." Your goal should be to make your child feel comfortable, confident, and successful. It's about risk taking, initiative and creativity in the moment!



This week for example, the children are experimenting with chalk pastels. They are learning how to draw pictures and to rub their drawings so that they spread colour throughout their pictures. Soft pastels, also called chalk pastels, are considered the most direct medium for working in colour. Pastels are basically pigment and chalk compressed with a small amount of gum tragacanth. They contain no additives nor solvents, and few tools are needed to create stunning works. Students have learned how to use their finger to "spread" the pastel's colour onto other parts of their paper and to blend colours together to create colourful and vibrant works of art!

So if you are wondering often about a paper that came home that looked a little rough around the edges, or you can't quite figure out what it is or "why" it is for that matter, it is probably a matter of an experience more than a final product.


We will be finishing our "paper chalk" blending and pictures this week and next week, we will do some shaving cream painting on the table tops. The room is bound to smell really "clean" I am sure. Stay tuned for those interesting pictures! Thanks go out to the family that donated shaving cream by taking an apple from our "Giving Tree" in the hallway. If you would like to support interesting and creative activities like this, please feel free to choose your apple from our Giving Tree!

Look at the beaming smile - what joy!

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso