Specific Road Blocks & What to Say....Do's & Don'ts for the Classroom

DO...

• Encourage individual differences
• Be flexible; allow for variation
• Leave the child alone.  Most children want to be left alone in the process of creating
• Allow for questions
• Honors the child's ideas above all

DON'T...

• Just artwork in any way
• Compare one child's work to the work of another
• Over-acknowledge a child's work.  Too much attention may cause self-consciousness and the way you are praising may be imitated
• Write, draw, or in any way, work the upon the child's art project

IF THE CHILD SAYS....YOU CAN SAY....

"I can't do it..."

• Reach down deep inside yourself for ideas.
• Review the project.
• Take a look at the samples once again.
• Close your eyes and draw a beginning on your page.
• Wait a few moments and an idea may come.
• Have you another idea you would rather do?

"I'm bored..."

• Stop for a while, look around you at the other work to inspire you.
• Do something different on the back of your paper.

"I don't like the project..."

• What about it would you change?
• Do you have an idea you would like to work on ?
• Would you like to make some changes in it?
• Surprise me with your ideas?

"What colors do I use next?"

• Take a look at all of the colors.  Do you want to repeat some?
• What color do you like with orange?
• Hold up your drawing - what color does it seem to need?
• Experiment - hold the crayons next to your work and see what happens.

"How do you/I draw a tree?"

• Feel what it's like to be a tree; how do they grow?
• See how other artists have drawn trees.  They'll give you some ideas for how to draw your own.

"I'm finished..."

• Let a friend hold up your work across the room while you think about it.
• Stop for a few minutes and come back to it.
• Perhaps you will have new ideas that you would like to use.
• Do you see large spaces that feel empty in your picture?
• Fill in your picture so the white paper disappears.
• Yes, so you are!