A project involving painting large murals on the courtyard walls of a school not only halted vandalism but improved the quality of education for all students by integrating the arts into their basic education. (JD)

A study of children's art as a function of gender of child, picture condition (drawings of same-sex versus mixed-sex dyads), and child-rearing setting (United States town, Israeli town, and Israeli kibbutz) confirms that boys, particularly Americans, are more aggressive, competitive, and hierarchical in their depicted relationships than are girls.…

Describes Kaleidoscope, a participatory arts program created by Hallmark Cards. Designed as a supplement to classroom art instruction, the program provides children of 6 to 12 years with positive experiences in exploring art. The program is designed to foster originality, imaginative thinking, and creative self-expression. (Author/BB)

Describes developments in strategies used by preschool and third grade children when drawing a three-dimensional model from observation. Concludes that children are able to devise unique responses to solving the problem of representation and that stage theory may be inadequate in explaining their performances. (Author/BSR)

In this interdisciplinary art and science program elementary school children visited a planetarium, learned about astronomy, and created cosmic art. Integrating art and science allows students to take a more unified look at the many parts of the world. (RM)

How an art school was set up at home is described. A profile of a class is presented. Photographs of the ceramic sculptures made by children attending the school are included. (RM)

Line drawings depicting expressive qualities that were created by subjects aged from 4 to 20 were examined to trace the development of expressivity. Results document a developmental trend from initial ability to produce abstract expression toward production of more complex multidimensional types of expression and increasing integration of…

Children are motivated to write when they produce their own rubber stamps to use in their stories. Suggestions for making rubber stamps in the classroom are given. (DF)

The Crayola Dream-Makers exhibition, which consists of 100 two- and three-dimensional works of art in which second, third, and fourth graders from all over the United States depict their dreams for themselves and their world is described. Samples of the children's art are included. (RM)

This study was done to see if sixth grade students could improve their drawing abilities by looking at lines more abstractly--by drawing a picture viewing the original upside down and comparing it to the same student's drawing done viewing the original right side up. Pairs of works were scored on the basis of line quality, proportion, and likeness…

A method was developed to encourage urban elementary school students to humanize their environments through artwork and stories. The 46 participants were students in grades 2 through 6 from an inner city neighborhood characterized by violence and urban crime. The children came to a neighborhood center once a week for an enrichment and tutoring…

Ideas for spring arts activities include a whimsical play about royal dragons, a skit on an April fool, and a song. Instructions for making brightly colored birds from boxes, a happy day hat, decorated eggs, and other art projects are given. (PP)

Noting that Asian children frequently develop artistic sensitivity and skill at a very young age, the author presents insights gained from a year's study of Japan's art education practices and of cultural attitudes which foster children's art in that nation. (SJL)

Provides steps for making papier-mache birds, the final activity in a fifth and sixth grade class study project. (RL)

Describes nine consequences for children who are given the opportunity to work with art teachers. Some of these are that making images provides intrinsic satisfaction; children learn that the images they create can function as symbols; and children's power to conceptualize visual ideas and to use effective means of expressing them increases. (KC)