Stages of artistic development in preschoolers and toddlers

Art is an important aspect of learning in early childhood education and must be carefully designed to enhance their artistic development and nurture an appreciation for beauty in their world. Art enriches the lives of all preschoolers and toddlers as it provides experiences for them in finding meaning about themselves and the world around them.

“From the moment the child discovers what it looks like and feels like to put lines down on paper, he has found something he will never lose, he has found art” – R.Kellogg1969.

Rhoda Kellogg has studied 100,000 young children’s drawings drawn with pencil, pen, crayon or brush and this extensive study has helped significantly in our understanding of children’s artistic development. She was particularly interested in the scribbles of young children and she discovered that children progress from making scribbles to drawing pictures by using a built-in, spontaneous method of self-teaching and would continue until the children were 5 years old and only in the later stages of development that children’s artwork can be coached and guided by an adult.

Kellogg also identified various symbols that have been drawn by children across various cultures. The mandala design which is a simple circle or square divided by intersecting lines is produced by children in different parts of the world.

Kellogg also discovered that preschoolers and toddlers unlike older children are not concerned about their art pieces looking nice or resembling real things but they move their hands to express a feeling that comes from within them and are delighted in the movement and scribbles they produce. With this knowledge in mind, it is important not to force them to look at physical objects and try to copy it but allow them to experiment, create in their own unique way thus providing them an opportunity to express their own ideas and feelings.

The artistic developmental stages are the scribble stage, basic form stage and the pictorial stage. Although there is a predictable pattern to their development, preschoolers and toddlers move through the levels in different ways and at their own pace. These stages can assist parents or teachers as they work with young children and provide guidelines for planning for a specific group of children.

Kellogg’s developmental stages

1. Scribble stage
   These are the earliest drawings of young children. They are simple and random markings, made for the pleasure of drawing scribbles. During this stage, the young children have no concern in trying to draw to represent anything but rather are enjoying the process of making scribbles on the paper.
2. Basic form stage
   Children begin to draw simple lines and shapes. Kellogg identified several universal symbols that children use around the world. These include the mandala, sun, ladders, spirals, wavy lines and rainbows. These symbols were being used to communicate and were the beginnings of writing. Children in this stage continue to draw for pleasure.
3. Pictorial stage
   During this stage, children use the shapes from stage 2 to draw symbolic representations of real people and things such as houses, tress and windows. They begin to identify their drawings, tell related stories and expand their drawings to include new meanings and understanding.

Positive and appropriate nurture of preschoolers and toddlers beginning artistic efforts can provide a strong foundation for later development and enjoyment of artistic experiences.

Tags: kindergarten games, preschoolers activities, preschoolers and toddlers

Preschool activities to nurture children creativity

Education systems may be mass produced but every child is different and unique in their own ways. There will be children with different levels of abilities and interests. Some like to sit quietly, contented listening to stories being told while there are others who love to tell their own stories.

When they are doing their preschool activities be it in Math or English lessons, they need to work off their irrepressible energy.

Children are eager to show their teachers or their parents what they already know and can contribute. I have a girl aged 5 years old in my daycare center who likes to do her own thing. We were doing a project on creating a recipe book but this girl was different from the rest of the class in that she did not follow what was written on the board but she asked for some old magazines from the teacher, and copied the pictures of food and drinks as pictures meant more to her than the few rows of words.

Children usually like to take initiative in their work when they are given the opportunity and guidance to do so but sadly this does not happen very often in many classrooms. We should not stifle their creativity but provide them the right environment to work in, encouraging them to believe in their own gifts and the confidence to pursue them in the way they thought best.

In my classes, I would always have preschool activities which encourage them to express their ideas in pictures or in words through art projects like paper mache, dancing or singing. We cannot expect them to sit quietly and write lines of words which will not make them any more creative.

Children can learn to be responsible when they are given the opportunity to discover their own gifts and talents and take charge of their own learning for their future. Their development as individuals is more complete when they take charge of themselves and what they learn so that they can create and develop their own system of learning that is unique to them, a style which works for them. One of my favorite preschool activities which I love to do with the children is to keep asking them questions while I am narrating a story to them, especially when they are open-ended questions where there is no one correct answer, for example “Where does the sun hide at night?” This is one of the strategies which we use to train children to be brilliant and to develop their creative thinking.
When children can identify with what they are doing and learning, they are more than willing to participate and give you their full attention and they can stay focused in preschool activities that they are interested in and when they are deeply involved, they will learn best.

We cannot develop creativity in children by demanding them to complete pages of homework that they may find boring but instead give them plenty of opportunities to use and explore their creativity by encouraging them to create their own homework which they feel is important which can make their learning more effective.

Children handle boredom differently, one might keep quiet while another might be more vocal by letting everyone know how bored he is, and so we must learn to accept their differences with positive expectations so that they are made aware of their own strengths to develop their own individual gifts and talents.

The individual ability of every child is limitless and with the appropriate support, encouragement and guidance they will learn how to develop an effective and flexible learning strategy that works for them, develop independent thinking skills and their own creativity.

Consider downloading “Mind Power Series” today with a 56 –day trial at www.gamesforfunkids.com and see for yourself why parents, teachers, child care providers, kindergartens and everyone who are interested in early childhood education are so excited and sharing about how the “Mind Power Series” has widen their knowledge on how to use very simple, fun, effective and fuss-free methods to develop their children individual gifts, talents, creativity, thinking and learning skills.

Tags: games for fun kids, kindergarten games, preschool activities

Funny for kids’ animal games

Laughter is a powerful tool in childhood education for its many benefits -

1. Develops good social skills – laughter helps to break the ice and creates bonds between people
2. Develops pre-reading skills – kids love poems and nursery rhymes for their rhyming words or nonsense syllables
3. Develops creativity – when kids are given the opportunities to do silly or funny things such as walking backwards or walk and quack like a duck instill in them a sense of humor which has long-term benefits such as they are encouraged or allowed to stretch their imagination, think outside the box and expose them to look at situations from different perspectives.
4. Develops cognitive thinking – among the areas of cognitive thinking are intelligence, reasoning, language development and memory. Laughter can increase learning and retention as both sides of the brain are stimulated and when kids are enjoying themselves while learning tend to learn and retain more of what is being taught.

Below are several funny for kids’ animal games which will make your kids roar with laughter.

1. Five Mischievous Monkeys
   You can finger play while reading this short story.
   One mischievous monkey eats banana (pretend to peel banana)
   Two mischievous monkeys walk like crabs (walk sideways)
   Three mischievous monkeys sing like ducks (quack and flap your arms)
   Four mischievous monkeys dance like ballerinas ( raise arms and toes and circle round)
   Five mischievous monkeys sleep all day (put your hands against cheek and snore)
2. Three little Pigs
   Encourage the kids to act out the story as they are read and to make this funnier for kids, show them how to do the actions in slow motion and the movements must be in tandem with the reading. This game develops the kids in many skills such as body awareness, cognitive thinking, creative movement, emotions, listening, observation, reading, coordination and socializing. This is a group game and is great for parties too.
   Once upon a time, there were three little pigs.
   The first little pig built his house with straw
   The second little pig built his house with sticks.
   The third little pig built his house with bricks.
   One day, a big bad wolf came to the straw house.
   “Little pig, little pig, can I come in?” he said.
   “No, by the hair on my chin I won’t let you in”, said the first little pig.
   “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down,” said the big bad wolf. (To make this even more funny for kids, encourage them to think creatively how to act silly while huffing and puffing)
   And he huffed, and he puffed and he blew the house down.
   The big bad wolf came to the stick house.
   “Little pig, little pig, can I come in?” he said.
   “No, by the hair on my chin I won’t let you in”, said the second little pig.
   “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down,” said the big bad wolf.
   And he huffed, and he puffed and he blew the house down.
   The big bad wolf came to the brick house.
   “Little pig, little pig, can I come in?” he said.
   “No, by the hair on my chin I won’t let you in”, said the third little pig.
   “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down,” said the big bad wolf.
   So he huffed, and he puffed and he huffed and he puffed, but he couldn’t blow the house down.
   So the big bad wolf climbed on to the roof and came down the chimney…..
   Splash! That was the end of the big bad wolf.
   At the end of the play, ask the kids why the big bad wolf could not blow the house down and what happened to the wolf when he came down the chimney. Encourage and allow the kids to make up the ending of the wolf themselves.

Kids are fond of animals and can empathize with their feelings and when they are exposed to such funny for kids animal games help them to explore and understand the world of animals in funny ways.

Consider downloading “Mind Power Series” today with a 56 –day trial at http://www.gamesforfunkids.com and see for yourself why parents, teachers, child care providers, kindergartens and everyone who are interested in early childhood education are so excited and sharing about how the “Mind Power Series” has widen their knowledge on how to use very simple, fun, effective and fuss-free methods to develop their children individual gifts, talents, creativity, thinking and learning skills.

Tags: funny for kids, games for fun kids, kids animal games, kindergarten games, preschoolers activities

Funny and playful kindergarten games that promote kindergarten learning

Children laugh when they are doing playful and funny kindergarten games and laughter can stimulate both sides of the brain, increases learning and retention and breaks down communication barriers and creates bond between people.

Children will roar with laughter when they hear, read, do or see something silly or funny.

1. “Knock Knock” silly stories to promote literacy skills
   This game requires more than one child to play and can develop rhyming and sequencing skills. Pair the children and ask them to pretend play as they think of something to say, pretend to knock on the door when saying Knock Knock and the other child putting their ear against an invisible door.Knock Knock
   Who’s there?
   Susan
   Susan who?
   Susan, the crooked cat who caught a crooked mouse.

   Knock Knock
   Who’s there?
   Peter
   Peter who?
   Peter, the knight riding on a white horse.

2. Reading to my Baby Toy/Doll – to promote pre-reading and language skills.
   Children who play kindergarten games which encourage them to pretend to read during their early years are more likely to become successful readers. Provide the children with many opportunities to pretend to read, such as reading to their baby dolls. Find books with big prints and pictures and read to your child and later encourage them to read the same book to their favorite toys and you can also play lullaby music to set the mood.
3. What will Papa buy? – to promote creativity and imagination skills.
   Sing this nursery rhyme and encourage the children to think what Papa will buy for the baby.Hush, little baby, don’t say a word;
   Papa’s going to buy you a mocking bird.
   If the mocking bird won’t sing,
   Papa’s going to buy you a diamond ring.

   After you have sung this rhyme, challenge the children to sing the same rhyme but replace “diamond ring” with something else.

 Children will enjoy these kindergarten games as they are delightful and fun to play with and provides the foundation for language development in their early years.

Consider downloading Mind Power Series today with a 56 –day trial at www.gamesforfunkids.com  and see for yourself why parents, teachers, child care providers, kindergartens and everyone who are interested in early childhood education are so excited and sharing about how the Mind Power Series has widen their knowledge on how to use very simple, fun, effective and fuss-free methods to develop their children individual gifts, talents, creativity, thinking and learning skills.

Tags: funny for kids, games for fun kids, kindergarten games, kindergarten learning

How to match preschoolers activities to their learning styles

Every preschooler is unique and if they are guided or shown preschoolers activities that are easy for their brain to do, then they are most likely a good match to help them attain a higher level of outstanding competence.

The first step in the matching process is to identify their learning styles which can be categorised into:

 1. The Follower

Preschoolers falling under this category love routines, orderly and are thus very predictable and are self-organized.

2. The Dramatic

These preschoolers love to give, placing other people’s needs first over their own and are usually very sentimental.

3. The Inventor

Being imaginative their main trait, they abhor daily routines and repetitive tasks and are usually high spirited and love to reinvent the wheel.

4. The Thinker

 Preschoolers falling under this category like to be in charge and maintain order by delegating and in control by making the decisions.

Learning styles can overlap but observe which learning style is more dominant in your preschoolers.

The Follower

They excel in preschoolers activities which require using fine motor activities as they are very precise in coloring inside the lines, cutting along the lines but do not rush them as they are cautious and careful in what they are doing. They are best when the activities have step-by-step and how-to instructions and they may need a bit of coaxing before they are willing to try anything new. Explain to them what is to be expected from them and you can then leave them alone as they will know what to do and will complete them in time and exactly what is required of them.

The Dramatic

Preschoolers falling under this category are rather dramatic as they are very expressive and emotional children. Preschoolers activities which are a match for them are those which have finger plays, pretend plays and storytelling as all these activities help them to connect with people and an opportunity to express themselves.

The Inventor

 Preschoolers of this style find repetitive routines boring and stifling. They are imaginative and innovative and brain boosting preschoolers activities like puzzles, quiz, and mazes will definitely intrigued them. Challenge them to invent new games from old, for example the traditional game hopscotch as they are great at creating and imagining new and exciting games to play.

The Thinker

 These preschoolers excel in mathematical preschoolers activities as they can think logically, accurately, analytically and decisively. Jigsaw puzzles are also great for them as they like to take things apart and put them back again.

When you understand and recognize your preschoolers learning style, communicating and nurturing them will be more pleasurable and enjoyable. Focus on their strengths and abilities and help them to become the masters of their own thinking.

Consider downloading Mind Power Series today with a 56 –day trial and see for yourself why parents, teachers, child care providers, kindergartens and everyone who are interested in early childhood education are so excited and sharing about how the Mind Power Series has widen their knowledge on how to use very simple, fun, effective and fuss-free methods to develop their children individual gifts, talents, creativity, thinking and learning skills.

Tags: funny for kids, games for fun kids, kindergarten games, preschoolers activities