The Art of Teaching Art to Children : In School and at Home

Rating:
Summary: A good look at the basics of teaching art to children.
Review: I have a college degree in Art and have always been told by family and friends that I should teach art. I never went into it because I always had a fear that I would squash the children's creativity. This book explains exactly how to develope creativity in children - as a teacher or parent. It is NOT the basics of what makes good art - so it is perfect for people who want to teach art and have an art background but no teaching background. It also can work very well for those without an art background as a way to introduce the five basic media (collage, drawing, painting, clay and construction) to children without squelching their creativity. Just don't expect her to tell you the basics of good design - that isn't what this book is about.

Nancy Beal spent many years teaching before she wrote this book - I trust her when she says " the children will do -----, when you offer -----". She is very good at helping one to understand the type of open questions that will get the children to express themselves. She searched for a way to teach art that would allow her to "connect" with the children and I think she has done it.

I only wish that I had indeed found this book sooner - I might be teaching art by now - better late than never.

Rating:
Summary: Wish I had read this 5 years ago.
Review: I have a college degree in Art and have always been told by family and friends that I should teach art. I never went into it because I always had a fear that I would squash the children's creativity. This book explains exactly how to develope creativity in children - as a teacher or parent. It is NOT the basics of what makes good art - so it is perfect for people who want to teach art and have an art background but no teaching background. It also can work very well for those without an art background as a way to introduce the five basic media (collage, drawing, painting, clay and construction) to children without squelching their creativity. Just don't expect her to tell you the basics of good design - that isn't what this book is about.

Nancy Beal spent many years teaching before she wrote this book - I trust her when she says " the children will do -----, when you offer -----". She is very good at helping one to understand the type of open questions that will get the children to express themselves. She searched for a way to teach art that would allow her to "connect" with the children and I think she has done it.

I only wish that I had indeed found this book sooner - I might be teaching art by now - better late than never.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to Understand
Review: I originally reviewed this book for my site and found it a wonderful tool in not just teaching but guiding my child to release some creativity - and mine too! I'm not an "artsy" parent by any means, but with this book giving you very easy explainations on tips, techniques, and use of art tools, setting the crayons and paper aside was much easier than I thought. That is one reason I chose this book, it captures both art teaching in school and at home, and allows the child to decide the project outcome based on his or her life instead of telling him or her to draw a yellow duck with a black outline; it tells your child anything is possible in art. The arthur, Nancy Beal, is great at giving parents tips on how to take the six basic art areas: collage, painting, drawing, printmaking, construction, and clay, and taking them from a school setting to a home "art corner".

Rating:
Summary: A good look at the basics of teaching art to children.
Review: This book focuses on introducing the basic art mediums (painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, clay, construction) for children ages 5 -10. The author emphasizes the importance of letting children work with these basic mediums repeatedly until they have gained mastery of the materials. Gradually they become more expressive in their work. The author encourages children to use their own life experience as a guide for making art; she discusses how to talk with children about their art, which is important to their own perceptions of their art. The book is written from the perspective of one person's experience as an art teacher and what she learned along the way. (I loved the photographs of the childrens' art.) The author adds tips for parents who want to do art at home with their kids. One quibble: she suggests letting children work in acrylic paint at home without mentioning that acrylics are not washable or nontoxic, unlike tempera paints. Many will enjoy reading this art teacher's experiences and advice, as I did, but be advised that the book is about a slow gradual approach to learning fine arts rather than a quick project idea reference.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Offers the Resource of Experience
Review: This book stands out as a resource for art teachers because it is more than just ideas and directions for projects and crafts. The author shares her experiences and lessons-learned from 25 years of teaching art. As a newly hired art teacher for a private school, charged with creating my own curriculum, this book has become my jewel.
Ms. Beal presents a clearly focused method for teaching art to children with specific information about the developmental stages and abilities of elementary-aged children. She describes lessons and different types of media as they enable children to experience art. Her emphasis is on the experience, not the finished product. By controlling the environment through order and clearly defined limits, children can experience a process and master a technique without becoming confused or frustrated. She focuses on giving children the tools to make art a form of self-expression from the child outward, rather than from the adult in to the child. From her method of teaching, children understand basic concepts and learn that art has many layers -- art class is not just a bunch of arbitrary crafts or projects. This book has geat potential for adaptation to the Montessori classroom because of its hands-on approach and has children involved in every phase of art from the selection of materials to cleaning up.
I already have a fair amount of experience with art and with some teaching, but this book is really good for grounding -- it makes art and art lessons relevant, age-appropriate, logical, and positive. You get the sense that real learning and creativity happen in her classroom, rather than the chaotic, messy, nagging, direction-oriented approach that many of us envision in home or school art classes.