How to set the course content of art class according to the age characteristics of children
Time:2025-11-24
Source:Artstep
Based on the development theory of painting by contemporary American art educator Victor Ronfeld, art studios can set courses for different age groups according to students' situations.
Make the course content more in line with the developmental patterns of children, and enable them to quickly grasp the knowledge points of the course.
1. Graffiti period 2-4 years old:
Graffiti for young children is a product of their visual experience and coordinated movements of their body and finger muscles, as well as an instinctive expression.
Ron Feld believes that early childhood doodling is an unconscious reflex action with no intention of creation. Just enjoying the satisfaction of muscle movement and the pleasure of writing on paper with a pen.
But gradually, young children can discover that there is a certain correlation between the lines on paper and their movements, so they continue to doodle and gradually develop the process of doodling related to physical and mental development, such as hand eye coordination and muscle control.
During the graffiti period, we can guide children to explore the environment and transform their drawings from aimless "graffiti" to "graffiti" with content.
Course content: Understanding handmade items made of different materials while playing
For example, tearing paper, using paper balls to express what children imagine in front of them, "playing" with plasticine to increase fun, and on this basis, exercising children's hand muscles, increasing their observation ability of objects around them, and unleashing their imagination.
2. Pre schema period 4-7 years old:
Children's exposure to the environment gradually expands, and their exploration of the world is greater than their own physical manipulation. Children begin to consciously express themselves concretely, and can discover the relationship between reality, thought, and painting. As they constantly accept new concepts, they often change their painting concepts and images.
At this stage, children's characters in their pens may mainly be tadpole figures, summarized and expressed. At the same time, there is no spatial order in the picture, objects are placed randomly, and colors are expressed according to the child's own preferences.
At this stage, painting mainly satisfies their curiosity about the environment.
To guide children to observe life, pay attention to various things in life, use painting language to express their feelings, and in between, guide them to freely draw while helping them control the composition and size of their own images, stimulate their enthusiasm for color, and cultivate their passion for painting.
Course content: painting, Paper Cuttings, origami, abstract graffiti training, including line drawing, color, etc. Add different painting techniques such as needle pens, markers, and oil painting sticks.
3. Illustration period 7-9 years old:
At this stage, a fixed painting symbol will develop, which can be called an icon or a base model. At this point, it is possible to depict all things with shapes, but still has a certain degree of subjectivity.
Children transition from early childhood to school age, with their main interests shifting from "self" to the relationship between "self and society".
They have a clear concept of characters and often have character illustrations. When emphasizing a particular experience or feature, they may exaggerate important parts or omit unnecessary parts to differ from the original illustration.
There are various forms of spatial expression, such as baseline and sky lines, unfolding or folding techniques, multi viewpoint storage of the same image, X-ray techniques, and storage of the same image at different times. Being able to discover real colors and break away from subjective color usage.
During this period, children are able to observe things and express them independently. It is important to guide children to express their subjective consciousness. It is necessary to cultivate children's observation ability, imagination ability, creativity ability, and visual memory.
Course content: painting (watercolor, gouache, oil painting stick, ink wash, black and white simple strokes, colored lead, etc.), paper carving (paper three-dimensional), foam, mud rock and other materials can make children feel more.
4. Realistic budding period 9-11 years old:
At this stage, children have a greater perception of the environment and visual objects, and attempt to present the authenticity of their visual concepts through painting. They also emphasize a tendency towards non realistic imagination, pay attention to the proportion of objects, and gradually develop abstract thinking abilities. The shape and content of the picture are no longer so rigid, and it describes more details of the environment.
Children have richer, more rigorous, and mature reasoning, able to organize their thoughts with new and more complex logic, and can also think about their emotions, behaviors, and perceptions from a certain distance.
At this stage, it is necessary to improve children's appreciation ability, strengthen their observation ability, cultivate their various abilities, and enhance their realistic ability during the process.
Course content: Chinese landscape painting, color, line drawing of figures, handmade origami,.
At the same time, children with high painting literacy at this stage can start sketching courses to understand the relationships between black, white, gray, space, and so on.
5. Realistic period 11-13 years old:
Children at this stage are able to engage in abstract thinking and develop a critical mindset towards their own works. Due to the enhanced ability of critical self-determination, although I wanted to express myself truthfully, I was unable to fully portray it realistically, resulting in a situation where my vision is high but my skills are low.
Start emphasizing the results of production rather than the creative process.
According to the different perceptual responses of children, there are two types of painting expression: visual and tactile.
The former focuses on visual stimulation, cares about the changes in color, light and shadow, and the perspective of the space; The latter emphasizes the expression of subjective experiential emotional characteristics or bodily sensations, similar to expressionists.
However, most children still fall somewhere in between, with a preference for visual or tactile representation when presenting images.
At this stage, teachers need to actively guide them, ensure their interest in painting, expose them to different materials, use innovative courses, require the precision and attention to detail of their works, and reflect the growth of older children. Those who have the conditions can start long-term works, such as meticulous painting and 2k creative works.
Course content: line drawing of figures (more complex), sketch (both for sketching and copying), sketch of figures (scenes can appear), high-precision Paper Cuttings (reflecting the delicacy of the performance object)