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"Only in your imagination can you revise." - Fay Wray

Guidelines for the Art Center

The Spring 2005 issue of the Texas Child Care Quarterly (www.childcarequarterly.com) observed, "the best art activities support investigation and experimentation and avoid focus on the product or end result." These were some of the many guidelines suggested to achieve this goal:

* Position the art center in good light and, if possible, near a water source.

* Focus on open-ended activities -- those that allow children to be involved in the process of creativity. Avoid closed activities -- those that have only one correct method or product.

* Encourage invention and independence. Avoid making models for children to follow.

* Buy left- and right-handed scissors that are blunt-ended, comfortable, sharp, and smooth in operation.

* Offer a variety of painting tools. In addition to standard brushes, provide sponges, feathers, combs, cotton swabs, toothbrushes, medicine droppers, spray bottles, and roll-top bottles.

* Avoid writing on children's artwork. Encourage children to sign their own art. If a chlid wants to dictate infomation about the art, write on a separate piece of paper that can be attached to the back of the art.

* Expect children to share cleanup tasks and to be responsible for their own materials. Show children how to control paint drips, wash brushes, cover dough and clay containers, hang up smocks, and wipe up spills.

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