Growing Artists

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Growing Artists introduces how young children from ages one to eight learn through the creation of art and how teachers can play a major role in fostering this learning through the art activities they offer and the way they communicate about art with children. This book delves deeply into how children acquire knowledge and the role art plays in allowing children to represent their developing ideas and knowledge through skillful manipulation of a wide range of art materials. The book begins by placing art education for the young in the context of brain-based learning and contemporary learning theories with an emphasis on understanding the creative process and how art as a child's first symbolic language reflects the cognitive development of the growing child. Developmentally and culturally appropriate practices are combined with research on how children develop artistically to create a framework for early childhood art education. Preservice and current teachers of young children are shown how to take an active role in nurturing creativity as well as social and cognitive growth through the way they talk to children about their art and in how art activities are presented and supported.Special attention is paid to planning and organizing art activities for children from ages one to eight with additional ideas for including children with special needs. There are many useful features: art terms, teacher tips, family communication tools, addressing special needs, presenting artworks, and dealing with safety issues. Real life classroom vignettes illustrate how the ideas in the book work in the reality of the classroom.