• Curriculum Overview
• Afternoons
• Events and Celebrations
• Service Learning and Partnerships
• Special Assemblies
• Mini Courses

by Gloria Bonsall-Shepard

The important thing about preschool art is doing it. Parents love to hang it on their refrigerators. People sometimes say "Oh, what a nice picture." Working with clay makes your fingers strong. When you paint, you feel good. Lots of people say they aren't any good at it. It is fun to make things with your friends. Some kinds of art are really messy.

But the important thing about preschool art is doing it. (Inspired by Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book)

Valuing the process of learning rather than only the outward product is one of the guiding philosophies of our preschool program. Nowhere is this more visible that in our art work. The children paint, sculpt, draw, and glue - working toward the creation of their own vision rather than a teacher-ordained goal.

By emphasizing the process of creation rather than uniformity or neatness, we free the children to focus on discovery through experimentation. They ask and answer the vital question, "What happens if. . ." by mixing paints, shaping clay, and cutting and taping construction paper. Each discovery leads to more questions and experimentation. Over time, this exploration (along with similar processes in the block area, at the water table, on the bicycles, etc.) allows children to deepen their understanding of the physical world.

Early art experiences help us to know ourselves - our likes and dislikes, our talents and interests. They provide a format for expressing that self and sharing it with a community. The mechanical aspects of reading and writing grow from conceptual and motor skills practiced during preschool art. Creative expression and symbolic thought that are so important for preschoolers' future literacy work, begin to develop now, as children paint and draw.

But the important thing about preschool art is doing it!