LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ART

    The following list combines art and language development skills for children ages nine months through seven years. The language skills listed are ones which are frequently needed within art activities (e.g., sorting, counting, colors).

PRE 1 YEAR LEVEL

Art:

• Tearing paper/crumpling paper (9 months).

Language:

• Say/encourage vowel sounds, such as "ooo" and "ah" while tearing paper.
• Make/label "balls" while crumpling.
• Toss, roll, drop balls of paper; encourage/label imitation of movements.

1 YEAR LEVEL

Art:

• Holds crayon functionally but not necessarily correctly (12 months).
• Attempts to imitate scribble on demand (12 months).
• Spontaneous scribble is present (15 months).
• Makes collage - Begins understanding paste (15 months).
• Paints with whole arm movements (18 months)

Language:

• Emphasize vocabulary, encourage asking for assistance (i.e., help me), encourage two word combinations as child approximates two years of age (e.g., pretty ________).

2 YEAR LEVEL

Art:

• Manipulates clay - pounds, squeezes, pulls (24 months).
• Imitates crayon strokes, both vertical and horizontal (27 months).
• Imitates crayon strokes, both vertical and horizontal (27 months). *Folds a piece of paper once after demonstration (27 months).
• Imitates "V" or "H" crayon strokes (30 months).
• Snips with scissors (30 months).
• Cuts with scissors functionally but not necessarily easily or correctly (33 months).

 Language:

• Beginning sense of ownership: "my" (24 months). Talk about who made the picture. Ask, "Whose picture is this?")
• Understands the concept of "more" (24 months). )Instruct children to "Get more". Ask, "Who needs more _______?" Encourage children to say "More ______" in response to "What do you need?")
• Uses plurals (27 months). (Watch for opportunities for children to contrast plurals and non-plurals, e.g., crayon/crayons, dot/dots.)
• Sorts objects (24 to 30 months). (Give children a basket with many items which could be used for their project but instruct them to use only a certain item, e.g., cotton balls.)
• Counts two objects (30 months); knows concept of "one" (30 months).

(Projects involving drawing, painting, or gluing body parts on people/animals give many opportunities for counting, e.g., two eyes, one nose.)

3 YEAR LEVEL

Art:

• Copies a circle from an example - circle does not have to be exact (36 months)
• Makes clay cakes (36 months).
• Folds paper (36 months).
• Strings at least four one-half inch beads (39 months).
• Traces a cross (42 months).
• Traces a diamond (45 months).

Language:

• Names something has drawn (36 months). (Involve children in conversations regarding their art project. "Tell me about what you made.")
• Sorts objects of two different colors; i.e., red and blue, etc. (42 months) (Provide opportunities for sorting colored strings for hair, colored circles for balloons, etc.)
• Knows concept of "animals," toys," "food" (42 months). (Look for pictures for children to tear/cut and make collages or bulletin boards all relating to a particular category.)
• Says simple nursery rhyme (45 months). (Make nursery rhyme feely books with cotton covered lambs, etc. Encourage the children to say the rhymes and describe the textures in their books.)
• Points to three colors (45 months). (Ask questions like, "Whomade the red one?" Give instructions to "Give me the orange crayon.")

4 YEAR LEVEL

Art:

• Draws a two-part man; i.e., head and body (48 months).
• Easily uses scissors but does not necessarily follow lines (48 months)
• Makes crude objects of clay (48 months).
• Draws a three-part man from an example; i.e., head, trunk, legs (54 months).
• Draws a three-part man without an example; i.e., head, body, legs, etc. (57 months).
• Copies a square from an example (57 months).

Language:

• Grasps number concept of "two" (48 months). Give instructions to, "Put two _____ on the ____."
• Talks about picture to be made using future tense (48 months). (Ask/encourage answers to "What will you make out of this?")
• Follows a sequence of three directions (54 months).

(Incorporate three-part directions into art activities, e.g., Crumple the paper, put it in the bag, and tape it closed.)

5 YEAR LEVEL

Art:

• Cuts with scissors following a line (60 months).
• Copies a square from an example (60 months).

Language:

• Names or labels at least six colors (60 months). (Talk about the colors used for art projects. Ask questions requiring children to tell what color they used.) (Children at this age should be using six-word sentences to describe their art work.)

6-7 YEAR LEVEL

• Cuts out paper dolls and other pictures with detail.

Language:

Children at this age should be using seven-word sentences to describe their art work.

The following conversational language skills should be developed by the age of three years. Each of these can be emphasized in art activities:

1) Requests for objects - Identify situations during art activites when the child wants or needs certain items. Also identify specific items in the situations which would be available to the child on request. For example, the task may involve the use of scissors. Instead of having them readily available, the child is told to cut paper in an activity but must ask for the materials.

2) Requests for actions - Identify certain situations where children must ask for assistance. For examples, some children may need assistance opening glue bottles, writing their name, or cutting. Instead of anticipating those children which need assistance, wait for their request. Although you may know that one certain child needs help, wait for their request. Although you may know that one certain child always needs help, a general instruction for all the children to "Let me know if you need help!" may be enough to prompt the child top say, "Help me, please."

3) Assertions - An assertion occurs when a child talks about an acitivity which he/she has completed in your presence or is in the process of completing. The child wants to confirm the main ideas or purposes of the activity . For example, after the class has participated in an art activity. the teacher may ask the children to tell about what they made. Assertions are also helpful in reviewing the sequence of a task (e.g., What did we do first? Then what did we do?, etc.).

4) Denials - A denial should occur when the teacher says or does the opposite of what the child asks for or expects. For example, the child asks for some glue (a request for an object). and the teacher gives the child some scissors. The child should deny the response by saying, "That's not glue." or "I need glue, not scissors."

5) Request for information - A request for information can be staged by omitting information that the child needs to complete a task. For example, when giving directions regarding a new art activity, give the child an extra piece for which you do not give instructions or have one unusual piece on your example so that children must ask "How?" questions to get enough information to complete the project.

6) Callings or Summons - Childen should beckon a teacher or another child for assistance or to enlist their participation in an activity. The person must be a reasonable distance from the speaker but not directly attending to the speaker. For example, a child in a classroom may call a teacher's name when assistance is needed with an individual task in which he/she has been involved.

7) Stated information - Stating information is simply telling a person something new or not previously known to them. Situations of this type occur frequently in classrooms. The "show and tell" time or times when children are asked to take verbal messages to a parent or another teacher are common examples. For example, "Tell Mom what you made today."

Brigance, Albert, Brigance Inventory of Early Development, North Billerica, MA: Curriculum Associates, Inc. (1978).

Harmon, Lynne F., Speech and Language Development in the Day Care. Adler, Sol and King, Deborah (Eds.), A Multi-Disciplinary Treatment Program for the Preschool Aged Exceptional Child , (1985).

Quick, Alton D., and Campbell, A. Ann, Memphis Developmental

Scale, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company (1976).

© Parent-Child Services Group, Inc.
Permission to copy for educational purposes.