Teaching Art to Young Children

How can teachers develop best practice in art teaching?

This fully updated third edition of Rob Barnes’ classic text blends practical ideas with sound principles of art education. Teachers and student teachers will find a range of ideas and tried and tested classroom examples; whilst for those looking for firm principles of art teaching and ‘best practice’ this book presents many important issues in art education with clarity and insight.

Based on first-hand experience of teaching children, this text uses many examples from early years and primary school contexts, and tackles essential topics with realism and imagination such as:

• developing skills through using media

• how children draw

• encouraging artistic confidence in children

• producing original artwork and making use of digital imagery

Rob Barnes’ unique approach encourages teachers to develop and think about art as part of a rich curriculum of learning, highlighting how it shouldn’t be taught in isolation but with purposeful links to other areas of the curriculum.

Rob Barnes is an artist printmaker who was previously Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.