One of the most remarkable books in art education was published in 1961. Art Activities for the Very Young by F. Louis Hoover contains insights that are still powerful decades later. Here are our top ten favorite “Helpful Hints” from Hoover’s classic!
1. Child art has a distinct charm of its own. The most successful examples of child art are honest, forthright expressions of each child’s world as they feel it and understand it to be.
2. Young children do not draw things the way they look to adults. They draw and paint their own world in their own way. It is different from an adult’s world. It is a young child’s world.
3. The very young child is not concerned with using color imitatively as it appears in nature. A cat may be green or a house purple. This element of fantasy is consistent with the exciting impossibilities of fairy tales. So we understand and enjoy this element of fantasy in child art.
4. By referring to childrens’ scribbles as designs, the young child has a ready answer to the inevitable question by adults, “What is it? The young child answers with a toss of the head, “It’s a design!”
5. Every art activity must be a creative experience which requires original thinking, planning and doing.
6. Children do not create at the same rate of speed. Some are slower than others in developing original ideas. Unfinished work should be left where a child may work on it when they wish to do so.
7. We encourage children to verbalize about their paintings and other art expressions. Talking about their work seems to give them greater confidence – especially when the listener shows a genuine interest in the child’s work.
8. Young children determine the size of things they draw or paint by the importance they wish to give them. A flower may be larger than a building because the flower is more important to the child. This is completely logical to the child – as it is to many professional artists.
9. All young children have the potential for creative expression. It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to provide opportunities for this potential to develop as fully as possible. It is not the child’s fault if this does not happen. it is ours.
…and our KidsArt favorite Hoover hint”…
10. Through our actions and attitudes, we convince young children that we have complete faith in their ability to express their own ideas in their own way.
Thanks to the revolutionary art educator F. Louis Hoover….© Davis Publications, 1961, All Rights Reserved.
This classic book is out of print, but if you stumble upon it in a used book store or online, grab a copy. It’s a treasure.
Feel free to print and use this page with your own family and students. We hope you enjoy www.KidsArt.com and remember to visit often!
