1. THE ANALYSIS OF CHILD PAINTING FROM THE DEVELOPMENT SIDE Dilek ACER Lecturer Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Department of Pre School Education dilekacer@yahoo.com Ayşe ÇAKIR İLHAN Assoc. Professor Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Department of Primary Education ilhan@education.ankara.edu.tr

2. METHOD This study aiming to analyze child paintings in developmental aspect was conducted at 5 private preschools located in Çankaya, Ankara. The work called “Pigeon” of famous painter Nuri Abaç was shown to 100 children of 5-6-year-old age by use of overhead projector and the painting was discussed with children.

3. “PIGEON” NURİ ABAÇ

4. The children animated the painting through drama following discussion. After animation the children re-pictured the painting and re-interpreted it.

5. SAMPLES OF CHILDREN’S RE-PICTURED THE PAINTING “PIGEON”

11. 21 paintings indicating developmental characteristics, under and over developmental stage were determined and the children were asked the questions contained in an art criticism questionnaire prepared in advance and were asked to criticize their own paintings.

12. In addition, the educators responsible for art education in the said preschools were asked questions by delivery of a questionnaire prepared in advance in order to find out the profile of art education at the said preschools.

13. The paintings of 100 children included in the study sampling were analyzed in terms of development aspects, and were coded as at development stage, under/over development stage. The data obtained there from were analyzed by use of SPSS 10.0 program statistically.

14. Characteristics of 5-year-old children Painting (Drawing) Draws human beings, houses, trees etc. in recognizable forms. Head and body are drawn. Head contains eyes, a nose, a mouth. Arms and legs start from the body. Faces are drawn from front view and without expression. Head is bigger than the body. Body ratios are not realistic. Objects are randomly placed on the paper. Colors other than main ones are used.

15. Characteristic of 6-year-old children Painting(Drawing) Ratios start to be become more realistic. Location of objects in the environment gets more proper. Number of details increases. Figures/objects are drawn on a central line or a line called ground line in more meaningful way. Transparent pictures are drawn. Several colors are used. Starts to draw face from side view.

16. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Figure 1 shows the ages of the children contained in the study. 60% of them are of 5-year-old and 40% 6-year-old age group.

17. Genders of the Children Figure 2 shows the genders of the children contained in the study. 45% of them are female and 55% male.

18. Artistic Development Condition of Children included in the Study Figure 3 shows distribution indicating painting development levels of the children contained in the study. 41% of them are at development stage, 5% over and 54% under development stage. The fact that the percentage of those under development stage is more than half of the sampling group is considerable.

19. Table 1. Frequency Distribution of Correlation Between Ages of The Children and Development Stage of The Painting. DEVELOPMENT STAGE AGE DEVELOPMENT STAGE N % OVER DEVELOPMENT STAGE N % UNDER DEVELOPMENT STAGE N % TOTAL N % 5 14 23.32 3.344 73.460 100 6 27 67.53 7.510 25.040 100

20. When Table 1 was examined it was discovered that 73.4% of 5-year-old group drew pictures under development stage, 23.3% at development stage. The percentage of the children from 6-year-old group drawing pictures reflecting development stage is 67.5% and percentage of under development stage is 25.0%. The percentage of children from both age groups drawing pictures over development stage is low. According to Kellogg child paintings are also mirror of their artistic development. The studies conducted on child development reveal that there are individual differences even between children of the same age group (Buyurgan, 2002:232).

21. Table 2. Frequency Distribution Of Correlation Between Gender of Children And The Painting Development Stage. DEVELOPMET STAGE GENDER DEVELOPMENT STAGE N % OVER DEVELOPMENT STAGE N % UNDER DEVELOPMENT STAGE N % TOTAL N % GIRL26 57,7 4 8,8 15 33,5 45 100 BOY15 27,2 1 1.8 39 71.0 55 100

22. When Table 2 was examined it was found out that 57,7% of girls drew pictures reflecting development stage, while 71.0% of boys drew pictures under development stage. Although the studies conducted indicate that the sex does not have any effects on the themes of child paintings, girls are more selective than boys regarding use of colors, paying attention to details in painting etc. (Yavuzer, 2000:41 54 ).

23. During the study 21 children were asked some questions about their pictures in order to elicit their artistic criticism. Most of children from both sex and age groups expressed the shapes and colors such as objects/human being/animal etc. seen in their painting correctly.

24. Also the questions asked to the educators responsible for art education at the preschools where the study was conducted revealed that they have offered art education by use of plays, story-telling, trips, drama etc. and the products were usually evaluated through exhibitions.

25. The studies indicate that the qualified art education given in convenient environment during pre-school period supports all development stages of the child and provides positive contributions to academic life of the child in future ( Cusbert, 2004:1 ).

26. Painting has an important place in art education and is one of the main means for the child to express himself/herself during preschool period. Painting activity is the most vital, most positive activity of the child (Etike, 2001:69).

27. Being at the utmost level of creativity and imagination, the preschool child should use those qualifications in the best way to reflect them in painting. From this point of view, the role of adult reveals once again.

28. Artistic creativities of the children can be reinforced by convenient orientation and guiding to be provided by the adults (Cassel, 2004:1). Children need to be aware of concepts such as colors, forms, shapes, texture etc. because of their motivation to learn (Cusbert, 2004:1; İlhan, 2002:11).

29. Paying attention to the said concepts and others and helping children recognize colors, shapes and textures of the objects surrounding children, in short helping them feel the difference between look and see, the adults may increase the painting development of the children to the highest level by use of art education to be enriched with techniques such as play, drama, music, trips-observations etc.

30. It is of the opinion that this study will be beneficial for application of it to greater sampling groups, questioning of art education given at the related institutes and also for re-arrangement of the art education provided at the said institutes.

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