Art allows children to understand the world. They can share their feelings, thoughts and experiences with symbols (Schirrmacher, 2006). Visual arts education, which includes concrete and life-oriented studies before school, helps develop children's perspectives, features and creative thinking skills to enable children to participate effectively in today's society and economy. It strengthens self-discipline and self-esteem of children and nurtures creativity (Isbell and Raines, 2003). Art offers unique resources for realizing dreams and refreshing imagination. It reveals the relationships between ideas, situations and objects, and provides a link between thought and action. Children develop hand-eye coordination while working with rich materials and tools of art, and can use fingers, wrists, hands and arms to manipulate objects. At the beginning, the activities carried out by the arm are directed towards hand and finger management. (Koster, 2001; Mayesky, 2006). This is the basis for self-care skills such as nutrition, dressing and cleaning. Although many educational programs focus on mathematics and science, research shows that art has a significant impact on brain development. Art is the only area in which the right and left lobe of the brain works together, hence holistic learning is strong. (Adu-Agyem vd. 2009; Hanna, 2011; Eglinton, 2003). Therefore, some recent studies focus not only on art education but also on art-oriented learning approach. (Deasy,2002; Israel, 2009; Flood and Bamford, 2007; Charleroy vd., 2012).
Dewey pointed out that children are active learners and emphasized that it is essential to integrate art rather than a separate discipline. Franz Cizek, who is known as the father of art education, has the need to express and create children in their nature, emphasized that teachers can remove obstacles in their creativity and support their artistic development with the methods used by teachers in art education, has opened an art school for children and created an important model for gradual art education movements. (Eglinton, 2003; Kindler, 1995). Viktor Lowenfeld also stated that every child was born creatively, but later it was limited to the environment. (Kindler, 1995). Howard Gardner believes that visual arts are important in supporting visual thinking. He has also discussed visual thinking in visual / spatial intelligence in a multi-intelligence approach. (Shillito vd., 2008).
Friedrich Froebel, the first founder of the preschool, stated that children should both enjoy their own arts and enjoy others. For him, artwork is important, not only because the teacher gives them the opportunity to see all the children's different abilities, but because it supports every development area of every child. (Akt. Fox ve Berry, 2008). The most important characteristic of art education in pre-school education is that children have the first concrete and independent choice of choice, allowing them to choose from many materials. (Akt. Fox ve Berry, 2008). Children feel joy and excitement as they do their art work and share with others, learn to work with various tools, methods and stimulating environments, coordinate their hands and minds with the discoveries of the visual world, make choices that improve the expression of their ideas. They support natural curiosity and feel the importance of overcoming difficulties (Mayesky 2006, Koster; 2001; Hanna, 2011; Eglinton, 2003; Fox ve Berry, 2008). Visual art activities should be planned by targeting the existing developmental characteristics, interests and skills of children. Art is aimed at all areas of development, although the gains and indicators appear to manipulate the objects indicated in the field. Children can distinguish the similarities and differences in the cognitive field while making the textures with dyes, and acquire new words related to the dyes in the language area, they can increase their motivation in the social emotional field with the happiness of paints and gain the responsibility of cleaning the body and the environment for a study in the field of self-care. For this, art activities should be meaningful for the child and fit the child's entire learning experience. Only one but more than one option should be provided to children when planning art activities. An area for paints, a field collage for dough, or another area for working with residual materials can be arranged to give children the freedom of choice. Children can gain more gains by cycling each area cyclically.
Recommendations for Teachers,
-The teacher has a facilitating role in art education. Environment, material, method and time in terms of the child provides the appropriate convenience.
- Modeling in education is a very effective method for children. For good planning, implementation and evaluation of the art, the educator should have primarily artistic and aesthetic sensitivity. Art works should be followed, in the educational environment, the works of painters, sculptors, architects should be included and the artist parents or guests should be invited to the class.
- Every situation encountered in daily life should be used in terms of art education. For example, in snowy weather, snow can be colored and snow can be seen in the spring.
-In art education, product-oriented process should be focused on, the development of the child should be based on the gains.
- In visual art education, not only painting, photography, design, etc. all other art branches should be included in the program.
- Artistic communication should be established with child during art events, and the child's self-expression should be supported.
- Video records related to the art activities process should be taken and placed in the portfolio of the children. Individual or group works that emerged at the end of the process should be exhibited in the area created in the environment.
The aim of art education is not to make children or art historian, but to facilitate the expression of their creativity and emotions through art and to increase their artistic awareness. Art is a rich area and there are many methods and techniques that can meet the individual needs of each child. With good planning, children can benefit from this area in the most effective way.
