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PageContentsThrough the subject of handwork, children perfect movement of the hands, experience the joy of creating and are stimulated intellectually by the knowledge of important crafts and their use in many parts of the world. They are awakened to the appreciation of artistic values - color, line, pattern, texture and design. They are exposed to many artistic media and are taught the use and care of materials. They become keen observers of the world around them, and with practice become able to have their hands obey their will. Through this work, they derive a sense of their own value and achieve an inner glow of satisfaction.
In recent years, we have been very interested in developing the creativity of our children. Today, it has become very clear that creativity develops from knowledge. The potential for creativity expands as a child develops his ability to observe, as he learns effective and efficient ways to use tools, as he refines his hands, as he has an opportunity to witness and experience examples of great art in all the various media, and as he gains a greater understanding of the elements of design.
We now know that it is a mistake to abandon children to their ignorance in the belief that it leaves them free to be creative. Creation by accident is not art. True creativity is a conscious endeavor, planned, implemented with purpose, and accomplished through vision and skilled effort.
We must not be afraid to teach our children - to pass on what our finest artists and craftsmen have learned. Given a ball of clay, a child might work with it indefinitely and never learn to make a coiled pot; so, an important potential of the medium would be overlooked. In this way, without guidance, the child begins to feel hopeless and inept. This does not mean that children do not need to handle materials, to get the feel of them, but it does mean that they also need to be shown possibilities. Anything we have learned, we need to teach our children. These early years are the children's most important learning years, and so anything we do with them must be done seriously and must be taking them somewhere. Naturally they will enjoy the activities and get a lot of pleasure from them, but there is also a purpose behind everything we do. When they have learned the fundamentals, then they can go farther and add their own creative ideas. But in order for the creativity to develop, they need to be taught the use of the media.
Children must have well trained hands before they are capable of creating handwork. The time for perfecting movement is in the first six years of life. And so, whatever we do with the children, whether it is working with the sensorial and practical life materials, handling a book, or using a pencil, we always show them how to do things with good hand movements. Unless we use tools effectively, we cannot create. Little children like to learn how to handle things properly. From the beginning, we would show a child the most efficient and effective way to use a tool. And we would give him simple things to do until his hands were more skilled at using any particular tool.
There is a way to use any particular tool in order to derive maximum benefit from it. Improper handling can spoil the tools and leave the child dissatisfied with their use. Mishandling of tools also creates habits that the child will have to unlearn later. It is very easy to show a child how to use a tool in the beginning. But it takes hours and hours over weeks of time to retrain the child if he has initially used the tool improperly.
Tools
It is important to give children good tools to use. The artist needs materials that he can control and manipulate easily. Scissors should cut well, and have sharp points. A large set of colored pencil with many shades of each color will allow children to develop a more precise understanding of color. Good quality tapered and blunt end brushes in a variety of sizes allow the children to develop more skill in painting. Carpentry tools should be child sized, but well designed and functional. A child of 4, 5, and 6 will spend hours hammering nails into a block of wood. At first they enjoy practicing the techniques themselves; later they want to make something, a project that can be completed fairly quickly, like a simple airplane or bookend.
Always show children the techniques and procedures that real artists use. Children should be shown to stretch watercolor paper on slightly inclined boards, rather than standing at a vertical easel to paint, where the paint dribbles uncontrollably down the paper, and the wet paper curls unsatisfactorily.
It is important to teach proper care of tools. Teach children to wash paint brushes and dry them flat, not on their bristles. When they walk with scissors, they must hold them with the point down; when offering them to someone else, they do so by extending the handles.
Tools need proper storage, and it is also important to provide for storing the children's work. Portfolios large enough to accommodate the children's work can be sent home periodically and then returned to school for storing the next projects. Usually children's work is not displayed on the walls, as we strive to maintain a calm environment, and direct their attention to the learning materials, and objects of special interest. It is important to remember that for young children, process is more important than product.
Just as important is to protect the environment. Children should wear protective aprons or smocks and be shown to cover tables with newspapers while gluing and painting.
Timing
The time for teaching skills is with the young child. Children of 4, 5 or 6 will spend hours practicing new skills, one technique at a time. At first, they are just interested in the process of using the media, but after a time, they like to feel that they are creating something. Once they have the techniques, the teacher can provide models which the children can make for themselves, applying their new skills, or they can invent their own. It is important that their first projects don't take a long time to finish. They prefer something they can make in one lesson or perhaps two or three at the most.
Our aim is to teach children all of these things well so that by the time they are eleven, they can create anything they want to. At puberty, children have a lot of hormonal and emotional changes, and physically they tire easily. So that is the age when we don't press them. At this age, they get very strong ideas about what they want to create, but they don't want to spend time learning basic techniques. They might want to make a bookcase for their room, or a long knitted scarf or a crocheted sweater.
If from the age of 3 1/2, 4 or 5, they have been taught the techniques of the important crafts, those we use in our own homes, then by adolescence they can create whatever they want. They know how to crochet, knit, sew, do carpentry, so they have a real sense of satisfaction. But if a child cannot do these things to her own satisfaction, she may become depressed and miserable, since she has nothing to do with her own hands.
An essential characteristic of humans is that we use our hands and create with our hands. We are really happy when we are using our hands in these creative ways.
For a long time, schools have looked down on work of the hands. Years ago, those who couldn't read and write learned to be skilled craftsmen. However, today manual labor is considered by some to be inferior to white collar work, and so, the work of the mind is stressed and students are taught to sit immobile and not use their hands. We must be careful not to perpetuate this unfortunate attitude.
Techniques
In choosing handwork curricula, it is important to give the children techniques of the useful crafts of their home and society such as carpentry, sewing and embroidery. They will also create with clay, paint, and paper. Always they will be taught the techniques and possibilities of the media, so that they have a successful experience.
As well as techniques for these special crafts, we can do handwork as part of nature study, physical science, social studies, math, music, and other subjects. As part of nature study, children are taught to be keen observers. They can watch a spider spin his web and draw their observations. They can grow a crocus from a bulb and keep a record of the growth with drawings. They can observe the branch structure of trees in winter and use that knowledge in their drawings. They can draw and label parts of the body, insects, animals, and fish. The study of geography is accompanied by map work, study of land forms, rocks, and how people live in different areas of the world. It is important to relate art and handwork to cultural geography. When making masks, for example, the children are introduced to the use of masks throughout the world. They are shown pictures, or better yet, the masks themselves from different areas of the world, and are taught their use and significance.
There are many handwork activities that add to a child's mathematical knowledge: work with tessellating geometrical figures, drawing polygons, creating polyhedra from paper, creating curves with straight lines, and understanding pattern and design. Measuring skills are used in many projects. They keep geometry portfolios, which are very carefully drawn and colored.
It is helpful and interesting to tell children stories of some of the great artists and get them to realize how each of those artists had to learn everything from the very beginning before they could create great works of art. They had to learn how to grind the colors, how to prepare the canvas and do the sketches for the picture. They underwent years of training before they were allowed to paint part of a master's painting - perhaps part of the background, or a tree.
It is important to have good art books in the classroom so that the children can sit down and look at them. Show children to place a book on a table and to turn the pages with care. Slides of great paintings are also available, and children enjoy viewing them through individual hand held viewers. It is also a good idea to have one or two fine paintings in the classroom, hung at the children's eye level. Of course, today it is possible to visit almost every great museum on the Internet. The computer assisted study of art can help us all learn to recognize and appreciate great art, become familiar with various artistic styles and media, and develop our ability to become aware of elements of design.
Throughout our study of handwork, we inspire children by showing them beautiful examples from throughout the world, linking their own personal experience with creative expressions of people from many different cultures. When we begin paper cutting exercises, we show them beautiful examples from China, or Poland where paper cutting has developed into a true art form. The activities for children always start simply, soon require finer hand movement, so that the children can perfect their abilities. The following activities are part of a sequence that lead the children to very fine work.