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Madeline Melvin
Ruopp
LTC 4240
10/5/2016
Childrens Art Analysis

If you visit any school no matter the grade, you will find that students
learn math, English, science, and social studies every day. Art and Music
classes become a special that students go to once a week or have the
option to not take an art/music class at all. With school curriculum so focused
on students learning how to read and write, how art contributes to childrens
comprehension is often forgotten about.
In the school system, the biggest focus is verbal literacy which is how
children learn to read, write, and comprehension. What is often forgotten
about is how significant visual literacy/text can be in order to understand
childrens thinking and connections through artistic development. To express
their understanding of what children see, young children convey visual
messages through painting and drawing, modeling with clay, creating
collages, and constructing with found materials (Johnson, 2008, p. 65). This
is essentially the same as describing a flower through written text. In written
text, you use words you would describe the flower such as its colors,
short/tall, what kind it is, etc. With artistic materials a child can express how
they perceive that flower: Just as children learn to read and write by

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constructing and decoding words, they learn to create and decode visual
symbols and ideas; they develop visual literacy (Johnson, 2008, p.65). Visual
literacy is explained as, the ability to create visual messages and to read
messages contained in visual communications; to perceive, understand,
interpret, and, ultimately, to evaluate ones visual environmentbeing able
to talk about art in addition to making it (Johnson, 2008, p.65). Visual
literacy is essentially the ability to create what you perceive around you out
of materials as well as being able to explain it. Without visual literacy, how
would we be able to show understandings of our thinking/seeing without
being able to draw it?
The drawing I have collected if from a kindergartner in my field
experience class. I asked her to draw her favorite animal. As she was
drawing the tiger, we talked about it, and she spoke her thinking process out
loud.
Me: I was wondering if you could draw a picture for me. What is your favorite
animal?
Student: A tiger!
Me: My school mascot is a tiger! Could you draw a tiger for me?
Student: Yeahhmm.. how do I draw it? A side-ways oval?
Instead of answering her question, I told her to draw a tiger however she
wants.
The student proceeded to draw a side-ways oval.

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Student: How should I draw the face? Im really good at drawing the face to
make it look this way (she pointed to the right).
Me: Ohh I would like to see that!
The student then drew a smaller side-ways oval with two rectangles on top.
Student: It has ears sticking up because it hears something.
Next, the student drew four rectangles under the tiger for legs. The student
then grabbed an orange and a black crayon and proceeded to color in stripes
on the tiger. Lastly, the student added a big black dot on the face for an eye.
Student: (Showed me finished drawing) Wait I forgot something! A tail!
Me: Oh good catch! What do tigers eat?
Student: Um...Meat. (student proceeds to draw a smaller animal and then
colored over it with brown) The tiger found a dead rat deep in the mud.
According to the Lowenfeldian Stages, this child would be classified as the
preschematic stage because she used geometric shapes, sizes are not
proportional, and details are represented through scribbles (Erickson and
Young, 1996, p. 36). The child showed me through her drawing her
understanding of basic skills needed to draw a tiger, as well as facts about
the tiger, such as the stripes, tail, what it eats, and hearing abilities. Yet the
tail is a smaller oval, and the claws of the tiger are scribbled lines. Talking
with the student about her art deepened meaning as well as understanding
about her drawing. Through her drawing, the student was telling me a story
about the tiger, and the dead rat she included extended her knowledge of
the tiger. This showed me that the student understands the nature of a tiger.

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Through this assignment, the child was able to learn though it might
not be apparent. One of the many things art can teach is decision making. L.
Martin (2014) wrote, The arts strengthen problem solving and critical
thinking skills. How do I express this feeling through my dance? How should I
play this character? Learning how to make choices and decisions will
certainly carry over into their education and other parts of lifeas this is
certainly a valuable skill in adulthood (Martin, learningliftoff.com, 2014). The
first thing the child encountered when beginning to draw the tiger was
decision making. The student questioned whether to start off with a sideways oval and made the decision to do so. Another learning factor art can
teach children is how to problem solve. According to V. Strauss (2013),
Without even realizing it kids that participate in the arts are consistently
being challenged to solve problems. All this practice problem solving
develops childrens skills in reasoning and understanding (Strauss,
Washington Post, 2013). While the student thought she was done drawing
the tiger, she realized there was a problem. The tiger was missing a tail, so
the student solved the problem by drawing the tail on. This was a very small
problem to solve, but for a kindergartener this simple of a task will help them
in the future.
Watching the student draw and then analyzing it has revealed how
important art is in the classroom. Children can use art to show their
understandings as well as learn from it. This can be beneficial for both
students and teachers because it can lessen the experience of frustration. As

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a preservice teacher in a kindergarten classroom, I believe art is very
important because it allows the students to express what they know.
Especially because kindergarteners cannot write yet, they can use art
instead. A lesson plan I thought of that could be used for younger children is
using art to show comprehension of a book. For example, if I read a book to
my students about all the different things you could make with apples, then
after the story they will have an activity. This activity would be for my
students to draw one thing they learned from the book that you could make
with apples.

References

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Erickson, M., & Young, B. (1996, October). Art Advocacy. What Every Educator Should (But
Maybe Doesn't) Know, 36-47.

Johnson, M. H. (2008, January). Developing Verbal and Visual Literacy

through Experiences in the Visual Arts. 25 Tips for Teachers, 65.

Martin, L. (2015). 10 Reasons Why Arts in Education is So Important for Kids Learning Liftoff. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from
http://www.learningliftoff.com/10-reasons-arts-in-education-importantkids/#.V_U_lDv2fzI

Strauss, V. (n.d.). Top 10 skills children learn from the arts. Retrieved October
05, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answersheet/wp/2013/01/22/top-10-skills-children-learn-from-the-arts/