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March 12, 2012

Doodle Bugs! Standard of the Week: 03/12/12

This week’s SOTW reminds teachers about the importance of open-ended art experiences. It is important that classroom art carts are always well stocked, so children can explore freely. Even when the art ‘project’ for the day is set out on a table as an open center, children should also have access to the additional materials on the art cart – consider this a ‘creation station’ that should be open for all or most of the day.

  • Every doodle day should include plenty of time for open-ended art experiences.
  • Your ‘art cart’ should be fully stocked with a wide variety of materials (newsprint, construction paper, crayons, playdough, collage materials, etc.) at all times and should be ‘open’ for most of the day. Just paper & crayons or markers is not enough!
  • Even the ‘art projects’ included in the curriculum should be focused on the process, not the product. Just provide the materials  let the children provide the rest!

If you would like additional information about open-ended art, here are a few links:

http://www.ooeygooey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/art-workshop-handout1.pdf

http://123child.com/website-share/Open_ended_art.pdf (page 8 is great!)

As always, a copy of this SOTW will be posted for families to see and in the faculty lounge.

View the current SOTW as a .pdf here: 031212_art carts