Art and Aesthetics in Early Childhood Education
of expression and that are often a natural choice of young children
who spontaneously combine the gestural, the vocal, and the visual
in their everyday play.
The importance of teacher's assistance in a child's growing
understanding of the technical possibilities and imitations of specific
artistic media can perhaps be best demonstrated by looking at
young children's clay productions. Children as young as 3 years of
age who perform in nonintrusive self- exploration environments tend
to be much more limited in subject matter, scale, detail, and stylistic
diversity in their clay productions than are those who benefit from
appropriate instruction (Kindler, 1997). But perhaps most important,
sensitive teaching that relies on constructivist approaches and
actively guides children toward important discoveries that support
their pictorial efforts translates into sense of accomplishment and
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