WEEK OF OCTOBER 1-5

 Children love art because it's fun and provides them

with authentic self-expression, but how important is art to a

child's healthy development? Children's art is many things

to many people. To a parent, art is a display of a child's

imagination. To an educator, it's a teaching tool. To a

psychologist, art is a way to understand a child's mind. To a

grandparent, it's a way to feel connected. To a librarian, it's

a way to enhance book knowledge. To a child, art is a way to

have fun, make decisions, and express

choices.

Picasso wrote, ''Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist

once he grows up.'' Is children's art an act of

genius? Are children more creative than adults?

Perhaps Picasso was simply impressed by the spontaneity of

children's art. Child art, like most child behavior, is direct

and uncensored. A young child doesn't critique his work

he paints freely and with pleasure, enjoying the fine and

gross motor experience of moving paint over paper and

watching lines, shapes, and colors come to life. Art puts a

child in the ''driver's seat'' and provides freedom: the

freedom of choice, thought, and feeling.
This week children are going to learn how to draw a sitting cat. They make a great subject matter for boys and girls that are just learning how to draw!