Understanding Young Children's Three-Dimensional Creative Potential in Art Making

Abstract

This article explores aspects of young children's three-dimensional development in art making. Understanding young children's three-dimensional awareness and development is often a neglected area of early childhood educators' education and practice and often children's creative potential is not fully realised. The present article is based on a small scale qualitative study which focused on understanding 5–6 year-olds' representational intentions in three-dimensional artworks, understanding of visual/design concepts and expressive use of media (scrap paper and mod roc). The findings of the study suggest that young children are able to create satisfying three-dimensional representations giving emphasis on forms, uprightness, balance, movement and modeling of multiple sides.