Art can also be used to teach children about culture, traditions, history and even social issues. The process of creating art contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional development of children. Art and Socio-Emotional Development Vygotsky (1978) informs us that every function in a child’s development appears twice – first in the social level and later on the individual level. This highlights to us that social interaction for children is important as all higher functions originate from actual relationships between individuals.
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As children start to negotiate with materials, express their emotions through art and even appreciate beauty and the artwork of others, according to Piaget (Huitt, 1999), they also start to understand that there are other perspectives (visual, social or emotional) that might be different from their own and they start to understand and appreciate differences. Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence (Gardner, 1983) also develops when they learn to express their emotions through symbolic representations and working with other children in artistic processes.
The act of being involved in art making gives young children a sense of emotional satisfaction. They have control over the materials they use and the autonomy they have in making decisions. This is probably the first opportunity in making independent choices and decisions. It also gives them opportunities to express their thinking and feelings. They build self esteem when they get feedback from teachers and peers and practice important social skills in group art making activities like taking turns, sharing and negotiating for materials. Art and Cognitive Development
Piaget tells us that children construct their own meaning as they interact with the world around them. They eventually start to develop abstract reasoning of the world around them through multiple experiences and reconstructions. Art allows children the opportunity to create knowledge as making art is a sensory experience. Young children enjoy the feeling of squishing paints in their hands, moving crayons across textured surfaces and seeing colours mixed together. It is through exploration that children build knowledge of the objects in the world around them.
Vygotsky’s social learning theory also show us that through art, the child is able to share his cognitive learning, understanding and representation of the world socially with others. According to Gardner, representing ideas and objects symbolically is also a higher order cognitive skill that is displayed in both visual-spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences. As children grow and develop, their art-making activities begin to involve the use of symbols. Children begin to represent real objects, events, and feelings in their artwork.
This early use of symbols in artwork provides a foundation for children’s later use of words to symbolize objects and actions in formal writing. Art and Motor Development Gardner’s visual spatial intelligence talks about the child’s ability to perceive the world accurately through various processes like forming a mental model and operating using that model. They also later could solve problems by controlling their bodily motions and handle objects skilfully using both fine motor movements of fingers and hands and gross motor movements of the body (Wright, 2003).
Art making activities also supports Piaget’s age and stage theory of children’s development especially when they start to experience the world through their senses and they start acquiring motor skills. Toddlers develop control of large and small muscle groups through making art. Painting with brushes, crayons, kneading clay or cutting and tearing paper help them develop co-ordination and strength in their arms and fingers. This will help them gain confidence in using tools for making art and later for writing.
Making art also helps children develop eye-hand co-ordination. As children decide how to make parts fit together into a whole, where to place objects, and what details to include, they learn to coordinate what they see with the movements of their hands and fingers. This eye-hand coordination is essential for many activities, including forming letters and spacing words in formal writing. References Desantis, K. ; Housen, A. (2000). A Brief Guide to Developmental Theory and Aesthetic Development. Visual Understanding in Education.
