Brittany King

Art 133

10/17/17

Unit Paper 4

The big idea of play can become a broader scope of various art creations in a classroom.

Play can be humorous and joyfulness as Pink states in Chapter 8 of A Whole New Mind. Pink

(2006) explains that Humor often involves incongruity (p. 197) which can often tell a story.

These stories can be made through humorous art where the viewer must utilize their right

hemisphere to appreciate the humor in art where it tells a story and find new perspectives within

the art. George Szekelys approach on art through play can be demonstrated in different ways in

a classroom with all ages. Szekely (2011) states Playing allows for independent exploration and

creates avenues to see things in fresh ways, to discover, and to invent (p. 64). Through play of

various materials and methods, students are able to create their own art and give into the 21st

Century Art Education Approach of choice-based and learner-directed. Children can create their

own art through materials such as tape, glue, play doh, aluminum foil and makeup. If a child is

given a free range of options they are able to let their creativity flow and push their personalities

into their art pieces. Szekely also mentions children's play by breaking things to discover how

things work and making messes to clean up that can create a sense of art through constructing

visual relationships of the pieces. With both Pink and Szekely, a teacher can imply choice-based

and learner-directed approaches by allowing students to have some choice in how they make

their art but also enable a sense of direction to younger students to ensure they are utilizing

materials accordingly.
 In my own classroom, I think free choice would be a fun idea but I think it would be

difficult to do as students are so used to guidance. Doing free choice as a college student was

already difficult for myself because I grew up receiving instruction from teachers. Working with

preschoolers now, we play with a lot of play doh and have never thought of it as art until I read

Szekely. I think when I am in my classroom I am going to give all students play doh at the same

time and see what they create. As of right now, I have one student who makes robots out of

play doh and connector blocks but I have never considered his imagination art until now. I also

think using a limited amount of materials such as tape and glue only would be an interesting art

project to see what students design with limited amount of materials. I think, as a teacher, could

learn a lot about my students if they are allowed more choice-based approaches in art.