Advice from art specialists

[thatone]

I would be grateful for some basic advice about how to teach art in Reception as this is an area where I have some uncertainties. My understanding is that, while it is important to allow children to develop specific techniques and control of resources eg pencil control, brush strokes, scissor control etc, the representation of their ideas should come from the children themselves.

So for example I might model how I would draw a face and I would highlight the things to remember but then I would remove this as I would want to see what the children come up with themselves without my example in front of them. Is this the right approach?

My TA, who is lovely and very creative, believes in first showing children how to paint/draw something and pins it up so then I end up with 30 very similar looking pieces. I am trying to move away from this so now I have asked her not to model but to encourage children to think about colours, shapes etc.

I would welcome advice from art specialists about how to support children to develop their skills while maintaining originality and expressiveness.

I taught Art for 20 years. I'm with your TA. You wouldn't expect a child to write a story to express themselves without teaching the alphabet. Art also needs the building blocks in place too.

Thank you oranges and demons - had almost given up.

It's a difficult one and I can see where your thought process comes from, but (sorry there is always a but) I agree with oranges.

Copying is crucial. There is a reason why all the great Italian artists had studios and pupils copying their works. You may have a couple of children with a natural aptitude in a class, but most need to learn. Just as you would demonstrate maths and leave those examples on the board!

I am not good at art. I always used to front up to my classes and tell them. However, I strongly believe that with help they can all produce something they like the look of - children know what they want it to look like!

Thank you SconeForaStroll that is helpful and I do see what you mean. I suppose a balance is needed as I am always fascinated by the original artwork they produce and what they tell me about it or the story behind it - however crude it may look to me it does mean something to them.