The Value of Open-Ended Art

Five-year-old Andrew works at the easel with a few cups of paint, a big sheet of white paper, and his own imagination to guide him. Standing back from the easel to view his work, he looks deep in thought.

"What are you thinking, Andrew?" I ask.

"Well, I was thinking that with all these paintings, maybe we could have a gallery."

"A what?"

"A gallery."

"Oh, you mean like an art show?"

"YES! We can have an art show and our moms and dads can come! We can make signs to tell them!" Andrew's imagination and love of art have been let loose.

When I (Christine) was first learning to be a teacher, I drew shapes for children to color in. When challenged to do something different, I interpreted that to mean I should cut out stars for the children to paint instead of drawing a star outline. The end result was the same-I drew the boundary and decided on the finished product. The children had little opportunity to express their own creativity, problem solve, or determine when their project was finished.

During my year teaching Andrew, however, I encountered a number of influences that challenged this thinking. My supervisor, the preschool program coordinator, encouraged me to provide fewer crafts and more open-ended materials to see how the children would experiment. For me, this was a process of giving the children more and more control. Ultimately, having the power to decide what to do, how to do it, and what to do with the end product greatly fueled Andrew's learning.

Why open-ended?

Young children actively construct their knowledge by interacting with the world around them (Piaget 1928). This means that they need to touch, see, explore, and manipulate objects and ideas to develop and learn. Young children should have "daily opportunities for creative expression" (Copple & Bredekamp 2009). Open-ended art is the perfect outlet for young children to process the information they take in.

Creative, open-ended art taps into three key developmental areas for young children. First, it allows an emotional outlet, encouraging children's active expression and communication (Pitri 2001). Second, it builds executive function (the ability to plan, monitor, and adjust behaviors to achieve a goal). This skill is important for focusing attention,...