Importance of Processed Art

                                          

Process Art vs. Product Art

Besides the parent a teacher is a great asset for fostering that creative thinking.  The first and easiest way to start fostering creativity is to develop an activity that is more about the process the children are going through and the problem solving and critical thinking they are using to work through the activity verses the end result of the activity.  Think about an art activity that a child can do.  If a teacher says please draw a picture of yourself.  The teacher gives the children white paper, crayons, and a mirror.  Now granted not all the pictures will look exactly the same, but they will be relatively similar and there was not a lot of critical thinking used to complete the activity.  Let’s do the same activity, but let the children use what ever supplies they choose to use.  The teacher has a large array of supplies from paints, crayons to yarn, sequins, etc.  In this activity not only do the children have to think about what they look like, but they also have to figure out what to use, how to use it, and how to make it look like them.  I can guarantee you that not only will they be all elaborate self portraits, but they will all be completely different.  By just changing a few things the activity has challenged them to use a higher order of thinking and creativity.  This is a prime example of process art verses product art.  The process of the art activity compared to get to the end result of the art activity.