The Art of Teaching Art to Children: In School and at Home [Paperback]

Nancy Beal (Author), Gloria Bley Miller (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0374527709 | ISBN-13: 978-0374527709 | Publication Date: August 30, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

An inspiring and comprehensive guide to art education.

In this accessibly written guide for classroom and art teachers as well as parents, Nancy Beal shows how to release children's marvelous gifts of expression. Beal believes that children must first of all be comfortable with their materials. She focuses on six basic media: collage, drawing, painting, clay, printmaking, and construction. She gives practical consideration to all facets of a teacher's responsibility: how each material should be introduced; what supplies are best; how a classroom may be set up to support children's explorations; and how teachers may ask open-ed questions to stimulate personal and meaningful expression. Beal also discusses how to integrate art into social studies and how to make museum visits productive and fun. Each chapter includes a section specifically for parents on helping their children create art at home.

Beal has taught art to children for twenty-five years and is able to draw on a wealth of examples from her classroom. The Art of Teaching Art to Children is extensively illustrated with her students' art, visual proof of her gifts as an educator and art enthusiast.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Beal has taught art to children at the Village Community School in New York for 25 years. Her method involves encouraging long-term familiarity with art materials so that children ages five to ten can master the materials and use them to express their own life experiences. In chapters on collage, painting, clay, drawing, printmaking, and 3-D construction, Beal discusses how to set up the art situation and how to speak to children about their artwork to encourage their creative expression. Short sections at the end of the chapters discuss what materials and techniques are best suited for use at home. Although recommendations are given about how to present each kind of art material to children, the level of detail provided is insufficient for readers who are not already familiar with the handling of the materials. Recommended for specialized collections in art education. Kathryn Wekselman, M.Ln., Cincinnati
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The Art of Teaching Art to Children is exactly right. Nancy Beal unfolds the magic , the practical, and a clear sense of children as she describes materials, motivations, and conservations in her Village Community School art room. This honest and thoughtful book should become a classic for all parents and teachers who cherish art in the lives of children." --Joy L. Moser, Teachers College, Columbia University

"Beal shows what children can do when they have the support of a caring adult—an adult who respects children's ideas and honors their creativity. Anyone who works with children, anyone who lives with children, should read this lovely and thoughtful book." --Peggy Kaye, author of Games for Writing

"Here is a book that will carry children from experimental beginnings as artists to full-fledged, deep expressive competency in art. Beal's knowledge of developmental growth is matched by her inspired motivational methods for teaching skills. Above all, she never loses sight of each child's personal view." --Naomi F. Pile, author of Art Experiences for Young Children

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (August 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374527709
• ISBN-13: 978-0374527709
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Offers the Resource of Experience, July 24, 2002

By 

Amy R Parrish (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Teaching Art to Children: In School and at Home (Paperback)

This book stands out as a resource for art teachers because it is more than just ideas and directions for projects and crafts. The author shares her experiences and lessons-learned from 25 years of teaching art. As a newly hired art teacher for a private school, charged with creating my own curriculum, this book has become my jewel.
Ms. Beal presents a clearly focused method for teaching art to children with specific information about the developmental stages and abilities of elementary-aged children. She describes lessons and different types of media as they enable children to experience art. Her emphasis is on the experience, not the finished product. By controlling the environment through order and clearly defined limits, children can experience a process and master a technique without becoming confused or frustrated. She focuses on giving children the tools to make art a form of self-expression from the child outward, rather than from the adult in to the child. From her method of teaching, children understand basic concepts and learn that art has many layers -- art class is not just a bunch of arbitrary crafts or projects. This book has geat potential for adaptation to the Montessori classroom because of its hands-on approach and has children involved in every phase of art from the selection of materials to cleaning up.
I already have a fair amount of experience with art and with some teaching, but this book is really good for grounding -- it makes art and art lessons relevant, age-appropriate, logical, and positive. You get the sense that real learning and creativity happen in her classroom, rather than the chaotic, messy, nagging, direction-oriented approach that many of us envision in home or school art classes.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good look at the basics of teaching art to children., May 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Teaching Art to Children: In School and at Home (Paperback)

This book focuses on introducing the basic art mediums (painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, clay, construction) for children ages 5 -10. The author emphasizes the importance of letting children work with these basic mediums repeatedly until they have gained mastery of the materials. Gradually they become more expressive in their work. The author encourages children to use their own life experience as a guide for making art; she discusses how to talk with children about their art, which is important to their own perceptions of their art. The book is written from the perspective of one person's experience as an art teacher and what she learned along the way. (I loved the photographs of the childrens' art.) The author adds tips for parents who want to do art at home with their kids. One quibble: she suggests letting children work in acrylic paint at home without mentioning that acrylics are not washable or nontoxic, unlike tempera paints. Many will enjoy reading this art teacher's experiences and advice, as I did, but be advised that the book is about a slow gradual approach to learning fine arts rather than a quick project idea reference.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Understand, September 25, 2001

By 

Danielle M. McClain (Rogers, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Teaching Art to Children: In School and at Home (Paperback)

I originally reviewed this book for my site and found it a wonderful tool in not just teaching but guiding my child to release some creativity - and mine too! I'm not an "artsy" parent by any means, but with this book giving you very easy explainations on tips, techniques, and use of art tools, setting the crayons and paper aside was much easier than I thought. That is one reason I chose this book, it captures both art teaching in school and at home, and allows the child to decide the project outcome based on his or her life instead of telling him or her to draw a yellow duck with a black outline; it tells your child anything is possible in art. The arthur, Nancy Beal, is great at giving parents tips on how to take the six basic art areas: collage, painting, drawing, printmaking, construction, and clay, and taking them from a school setting to a home "art corner".