Art Materials & Ideas to Encourage Artistic Development

Today's blog post is a follow up post from last week's Experiencing Lowenfeld's Stages of Artistic Development with Children in Your Life. Please refer to the previous post for the descriptions of each artistic stage of development. Below are some examples of materials and ideas to encourage the child(ren) in your life at their current phase of artistic development:

Scribble Stage (Ages 2-4)
Use materials that allow the child to choose different colors and experience different mark making. Encourage the child to talk about their creations. In the beginning their drawings may not mean anything until they reach the later portion of the scribble phase known as "Naming".

Art materials:

1. Large crayons
2. 12" x 18" or 18" x 24" paper for drawing and painting to capture large movements
3. Large painting brushes with thick handles for easy gripping
4. Tempera paint
5. Air dry clay/ play dough for sculpting

Ideas to Explore:

1. Allow the child to draw freely
2. Ask the child what their drawing represents

Pre-Schematic Stage (Ages 4-6)
Encourage the child to make connections from their experiences in the world and their artwork

Art Materials:

1. Large crayons
2. 12" x 18" or 18" x 24" paper for drawing and painting to capture large movements
3. Large painting brushes with thick handles for easy gripping
4. Tempera paint
5. Watercolors
6. Colored chalk
7. Construction Paper
8. Glue
9. Air dry clay/ play dough for sculpting

Ideas to Explore:

1. Size Relationships
2. Feelings
3. Body Parts

Schematic Stage (Ages 7-9)
Allow children to draw/create what they want with new art materials. Encourage them to depict natural and imaginative environments.

Art Materials:

1. Multimedia Paper
2. Paint Brushes
3. Tempera Paint
4. Watercolors
5. Graphite Pencils
6. Colored Chalk
7. Oil Pastels
8. Paper Mache
9. Construction Paper
10. Glue
11. Clay

Ideas to Explore:

1. X-Ray Pictures
2. Front and Profile Views 
3. Emotions
4. Experiences in their world (going to school, dance practice, etc.)

Dawning of Realism Stage (Ages 9-11)
To encourage children to develop their artistic skills, have them draw from observation and explore other art mediums to express themselves and illustrate the way they view the world.

Art Materials:

1. Multimedia Paper
2. Paint Brushes
3. Tempera Paint
4. Watercolors
5. Watercolor Pencils
6. Graphite Pencils
7. Colored Chalk
8. Oil Pastels
9. Paper Mache
10. Construction Paper
11. Glue
12. Clay
13. Print Making Materials
14. Book Making Materials
15. Photography
16. Weaving

Ideas to Explore:

1. Art from around the world
2. Drawing from observation
3. Elements and Principles of Art