How Art Is Life (in Preschool)

May 01, 2008

by Amy Rees

Think back for a moment.  Do you remember when every single thing that your baby came in contact with went immediately into his mouth?  (Okay, so it wasn't the most blissful era.  Just think of it for a brief moment.)  You were told by every expert that it was just his way of learning about the world.

Fast-forward to now.  Your preschooler traded his drooly little maw for a paintbrush.

Or a crayon.  Or some Play-Doh.  Or a marker.  Or anything else that might be used to make art. 

And it's all about the same thing:  just his way of learning about the world.  But this time (most likely), he's not putting it in his mouth.  He might still be getting it on the kitchen table or in his hair, but he's probably not eating it.  Very often. 

But art for preschoolers is life.  Life is art.  When they stand at their easels and paint or draw, whether scribbling or making marks readily or not-so-readily identifiable by you as by them, they are figuring it all out.  Sure, they're getting a little science, a little fine motor skill exercise, a little tactile comfort, maybe. 

They are processing.  They are communicating.  They are naming their world, creating it and recreating it.  They are making a place for themselves.  They are exerting some control they rarely have and delighting in the randomness and unexpected turns their creativity takes, too.

Art is life for them.  Seems they are on to something there.  Stay with Being Savvy this month as we explore Art Is Life; Life is Art.  Great stuff awaits us!

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