A child approached me and said, “My teacher says I need to redo my drawing. She said my drawing of the man looks like Nursery 1 work. Primary 5 can do much better than drawing matchstick men!”

Ouch!

I wish I knew what I now know. Instead, I encouraged the child to look at books and practice drawing that way.

Do you know that artwork is simple to improve on when you provide children the right tools, knowledge and and techniques.

Show the child the following:

1. The principles of art.
2. The elements of art.
3. Use beautiful works of art to underpin these principles and elements.
4. Provide a wide variety of art materials and tools for the child to explore
5. Show them the different techniques they can use to produce work using different tools: pencil, charcoal, paint, sculpturing etc.
6. Provide lots of opportunities to practice.
7. Integrate art into all areas of study.
8. Encourage them to make their work attractive to the eye.

Criticism may be on point but it does not bring about development and change with children. Instead, the child may feel inadequate and ashamed of their work.

Art fulfills a basic need in humans to make things beautiful and appealing to the eye. We need to help our chilldren by helping them learn and practice art constantly.

My husband wants to frame my artwork produced from my 6-12 Montessori training art classess!

All are produced from learning elements, principles etc. of art.