Focuses on individualized expression resulting from ideas and skills that have developed over time. Describes how students first drew a group of people, then used values and added background details, and finally enlarged the drawings demonstrating their own ideas. (CMK)

Describes a unit on lighthouses, originally a social studies unit, in which students participate in two art projects: (1) a lighthouse printmaking activity and (2) a scratch-etch activity using lighthouses. Describes the steps for printmaking and the process of creating scratch-etch drawings. (CMK)

Discusses the importance of designing settings for children that encourage hands-on creativity through play. Suggests the designs are art forms requiring a participatory art teaching style. Describes the technique and provides proven design ideas. (CMK)

Presents an art project, used in a culturally diverse curriculum, in which second grade students create Chinese New Year dragons. Describes the process of creating the dragons, from the two-week construction of the head to the accordion-folded bodies. (CMK)

Suggests a new distinction among the arts genres used in the school, namely "child art,""fine art,'' and "art for children." Describes each in detail. Examines the contexts of time and space for arts instruction and the communities of practice in which school art functions. Addresses policy implications. (CMK)

Presents two children's literature-inspired art projects. The first project, for second grade students, uses the book "In the Tall, Tall Grass" and focuses on the art concept of depth. The second project, for third graders, uses the book "If the Dinosaurs Came Back" to teach color contrast and overlapping. (CMK)

Discusses an art activity where fourth-grade students created backgrounds using melted paraffin and a variety of paints for their cat batik/collage. Explains that after the students created their backgrounds, they assembled their paper cats for the collage using smaller shapes glued together and wax to add texture for fur. (CMK)

Dicker-Brandeis saw the principal aim of teaching to be liberation of concealed sources of children's creativity, development of fantasies and imaginations. Article explores play and art and Dicker-Brandeis's role in these activities. The value of art and play in the lives of children, particularly in a world of fear and death, is validated by the…

Explores the multilayered nature of a single picture book by Anthony Browne and the sophisticated responses (including their own pictures) children ages 4-11 bring to interpreting such a text. Suggests that some children who are not yet confident at reading print have developed impressive capacities for analyzing image. (SG)

Describes an art project in which fifth-grade students create abstracts and collages after exploring artwork of various artists. Explains that this project is perfect as a final activity for the school year and also helps to use up any leftover paint supplies. (CMK)

Presents an art project in which sixth-grade students learned about the work of environmentalist photographer Andy Goldsworthy. Explains how the students created designs using natural materials from the woods. Designs were photographed by high-school students. The sixth-graders then wrote about their experiences. (CMK)

An art teacher conducts workshops in southwestern Colorado, mentoring young American Indian artists and their families. The subject matter and materials are derived from the local area, enabling the young artists to develop a sense of place as they learn the fundamentals of art. (TD)

Focuses on children as "wrapping artists," stating that a child's wrapping art includes elements of ritual: finding a special object, selecting and customizing the wrapper, and participating in the unwrapping event. Discusses surface decorating, the exploration of form through wrapping, and collecting wrapping-art. (CMK)

Describes how one teacher helped preschool children draw. Shows how she guided a 4-year-old to use stencils to draw fish independently, helped children use their knowledge of shapes to guide their drawing of animals, and guided children to draw what was important to them. Asserts that helping children to express their ideas independently in…

Describes an activity for third-grade students in which they learn about early American landscape painters, specifically Frederick Church, Thomas Moran, and Albert Bierstadt. Students create natural landscapes, using the basic elements of landscape compositions. Discusses the process. (CMK)