Filamer Christian University

Roxas, Avenue, Roxas City

College of Teacher Education

SPED 312
Movements Arts & Music for Children with Special Needs

Reporter: Instructress:
Jhanette M. De Los Reyes Prof. Cheryl D. Alipongan

Nurturing Creativity through Creative Arts

The Work of Victor Lowenfeld & William Lambert

Victor Lowenfeld and William Lambert Brittain expanded Kellogg’s work. They extended
the stages of art development into adolescence. Like Kellogg, they also warned against outside
interference in the child’s process of self-expression.

The works of Kellogg, Lowenfeld and Brittain has influenced how educators view the art
of young children. Through their work, art came to be seen as an important facet for
understanding how children think.

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF CHILD ART

(Based on Kellogg (1967) and Lowenfeld and Brittain (1987)

Age Stages Characteristics Picture

2 – 4 years SCRIBBLING

A. 1 – 2 ½ Random Random lines are

Scribbling made using the
whole arm

Tool held with

whole hand

Lines may extend

beyond paper

B. 2 ½ - 3 Begins to use wrist

Controlled motions
 Scribbling

Stay on paper,
makes smaller
marks

Controls where lines

are placed

Holds tool with

C. 3 – 4 ½ Named fingers
Scribbles
Can make many
different lines and
shapes

Name scribbles, but

often changes
names

This stage is typical of children between 18 months and 4 ½ years.

 Scribbles are random. Children are exploring art materials in a playful way.
 Scribbles move from uncontrolled to progressively more controlled.
 This stage allows children to learn to hold a pencil as well as to determine whether they
are left or right-handed.
 While you may not see it, some scribbles are named. The child will point to an object
found in the scribble.

Scribbling helps children with:

Physical Development

 Hand-eye coordination
 Fine and gross muscle development
 Hand manipulation

Language Art

 Naming or labelling
 Conversation
Penmanship

 Stroking
 Finger dexterity
 Fine muscle control

Guidance

 Self-confidence
 Independence
 Initiative
 Enjoyment

Age Stages Characteristics Picture

4–7½ PRESCHEMATIC Develops set of

symbols to represent
concept

May not resemble or

in proportion to real
objects

Learns that pictures

communicates to
others

Begins to value his

product

This stage is typical of children between the ages of 4 to 7 ½ .

 Drawings become more complex, although they are usually unrealistic.

 Children will tend to use their favorite colors, rather than represent objects in accurate
colors.
 Drawings of people are very simple with few features.
 Objects in drawings float in space. They are not anchored.
 “Tadpole Figure People” are drawn with a very large head on a small body with
extended arms.

Children continue to develop increased hand-eye coordination, fine and gross muscle
development, and self-confidence during this stage.
Additionally, they are developing increased abilities in:

 Observation
 Thinking
 Problem solving
 Feelings of competence

Age Stages Characteristics Picture

7-9 SCHEMATIC Drawing shows

concept, not
real images

Baseline and
skyline appear

X-ray drawings
appear

This stage is typical of children between 7 to 9.

 Drawings of people become more proportional and more detailed.

 Colors become more realistic and stereotypical (grass is green, the sky is blue).
 Skyline and ground lines start to show.
 Children have a schema about a way of drawing. For example, a house will be drawn
the same way in many drawings.
 Children will often create stories to go along with their drawings.

At this stage, children will be developing skills important for art, science and mathematics
including:

 Trial and error

 Patterns
 Shapes
 Numbers
 Interpretation
 Age Stages Characteristics Picture

9 - 12 DAWNING Objects are drawn

REALISM smaller, with more
details

Less concern for

placement of objects

Realizes that symbols

do not represent real
images

This stage is typical of children between 9 to 12.

 Drawings become far more detailed.

 Much more spatial perspective is evident.
 Children at this stage may become very frustrated if they are unable to create a realistic
picture.
 This is the time when children may express “I can’t draw.”

Age Stages Characteristics Picture

12 - 14 PSEUDO Detailed figures,

NATURALISTIC/REAL cartoon images
ISTIC DRAWING
Standing
proportion, and
perspective
appear more or
less successfully

Spontaneous
drawing ends,
except for
those who go
on in art

This stage marks the end of art as spontaneous activity as children are increasingly
critical of their drawings. The focus is now on the end product as they strive to create “adult-like”
naturalistic drawing s. light and shadow, folds, and motion are observed with mixed success,
translated to paper. Space is depicted (portrayed/showed) as the three-dimensional by
diminishing the size of objects that are further away.

Age Stages Characteristics Picture

14 + ARTISTIC DECISION: Same pursue

ADOLESCENT ART naturalistic
drawing

Mary copy or
imitate various
style before
developing
their own

Arts at this stage is something to be done or left alone. Natural development will cease
unless a conscious decision is made to improve drawing skills. Students are critically aware of the
immaturity of their drawing and are easily discourage. Lowenfeld’s solution is to enlarge their
concept of adult art to include non-representational art and art occupations besides painting
(architecture, interior design, handcrafts ect.)

Art and Cognitive Development

Few researchers in art education overtly acknowledge their debt to Piaget, the research
and theory of artistic development has emerged in dialogue with Piagetian assumptions
(Atkinson, 2002.). Howard Gardner (1991) supports Piaget’s idea that sensory learning dominates
the first 18 months of life, and this followed by a symbolic period during the preschool years.

Piaget’s idea that sensory learning

The sensory motor stage is the first of the four different stages in the cognitive
development of Piaget’s theory, which occurs in children from birth to approximately two years.
Piaget's ideas surrounding the Sensory Motor Stage are centred on the basis of a 'schema'.
Schemas are mental representations or ideas about what things are and how we deal with
them. The Pre-operational Stage is next, and this occurs in children aged around two to seven
years old. Children aged around seven to eleven or twelve go through the Concrete
Operational stage, and adolescents go through the Formal Operations Stage, from the age of
around eleven to sixteen or more.
 Gardner states, “depiction” of aspects of the world through drawings, constructions in
blocks and clay, and other iconic vehicles is a symbolic avenue of great significance in early
childhood.” In his theory of multiple intelligences,

Gardner multiple intelligences

Summaries of eight intelligences:

1. Visual/Spatial - Involves visual perception of the environment, the ability to create and
manipulate mental images, and the orientation of the body in space.
2. Verbal/Linguistic - Involves reading, writing, speaking, and conversing in one's own or
foreign languages.
3. Logical/Mathematical - Involves number and computing skills, recognizing patterns and
relationships, timeliness and order, and the ability to solve different kinds of problems
through logic.
4. Bodily/Kinesthetic - Involves physical coordination and dexterity, using fine and gross
motor skills, and expressing oneself or learning through physical activities.
5. Musical - Involves understanding and expressing oneself through music and rhythmic
movements or dance, or composing, playing, or conducting music.
6. Interpersonal - Involves understanding how to communicate with and understand other
people and how to work collaboratively.
7. Intrapersonal - Involves understanding one's inner world of emotions and thoughts, and
growing in the ability to control them and work with them consciously.
8. Naturalist - Involves understanding the natural world of plants and animals, noticing their
characteristics, and categorizing them; it generally involves keen observation and the
ability to classify other things as well.

"Multiple intelligences is a psychological theory about the mind. It's a critique of the
notion that there's a single intelligence which we're born with, which can't be changed, and
which psychologists can measure. It's based on a lot of scientific research in fields ranging from
psychology to anthropology to biology. It's not based upon based on test correlations, which
most other intelligence theories are based on. The claim is that there are at least eight different
human intelligences. Most intelligence tests look at language or logic or both - those are just two
of the intelligences. The other six are musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, and naturalist. I make two claims. The first claim is that all human beings have all of
these intelligences. It's part of our species definition. The second claim is that, both because of
our genetics and our environment, no two people have exactly the same profile of intelligences,
not even identical twins, because their experiences are different."

Gardner’s proposes that cognitive growth and how it is expressed in children’s art is
shown on the table below.
 ART AND COGNITIVE GROWTH

Based on Howard Gardner (1997)

Age Cognitive Understanding Art Produced

Casual Relationships Discovers relationship Draws a dog by scribbling and

between object and event barking at the same time
1½-2

Spatial Relationships Discovers spatial relationships Draws a dog by drawing a

circle (head) beside another
2–3 circle (body)

Numerical Relationships Represents numerical Draw dog with four legs, two
concepts ears, and one tail
3–5

National Relationships Invents or learn meaningful Draws dog with tail, flappy
symbols of the culture ears, and labels it “DOG”
5–7

Other researchers (Darras and Kindler, 1994; Wolf and Perry, !984) propose a model of
artistic development that shows how a child’s art is more than a picture on the paper, but also
what the child says and how the child moves. According to this model, art production is
multimedia blend of graphic, verbal, and kinaesthetic expression that reveals the child’s thought
processes. They describe artistic production as modality, one that is organized by modes of
behaviour.

An outline of how sensorimotor activity develops into drawing is provided by illustrations

of hypothetical pre-drawing developmental pathways or teleologies (Kindler & Darras, 1997).
These are natural processes that are shaped towards a purpose. The teleologies represent an
ageless, stage less system with a map-like structure that represent s multiple pathways of artistic
development. According to this model, a child’s art is more that the picture on the model, but
also what the child says and how the child moves. Art production is a multimedia blend of
graphic, verbal and kinaesthetic experiences that reveals the child’s thought processes. The
multimedia modes of art production based on Kindler and Darras (1994) are shown below.
Social and Cultural Factors that Affect Artistic Development

The social and cultural context in which children grow and develop influences children’s
artistic development for several reasons.

1. Adults determine what art materials are acceptable for children to use and set the limit
of what is creative art.
2. Adults determine how much experience children have with art materials. Repetition and
practice are the key to improving skills.
3. Adults determine the availability of materials. Children are more likely to be interested in
doing art if art materials are readily available and the other people around them are
also doing art.
4. Adults determine the kind of environment the child will be surrounded with. Children who
have seen examples of variety of art forms and are taught to value them, are more likely
to include elements from these examples in their own art.
5. Adults can influence how a child feels about art. Children will learn to love are or hate it,
depending on how the adults around them respond to the children’s art work.

The importance of the social and cultural factors that affect children’s artistic development
requires teachers and adults to see the child as a whole, made of a unique combination of
these factors. Remember that while the attitudes and beliefs acquired during early years
change and evolve through one’s lifetime, early childhood experiences can play a formative
role and influence further learning as adults (Kindler and Darras, 1997). They will have the
opportunity to learn and to appreciate differences. They will come to understand that people
have unique values and see things in different ways.