Select a few pieces of art with themes and images children can easily understand or relate to. Use art showing images of a mother and child, father and child, children playing, popular religious images or simple works with interpretive qualities. For instance, children can easily understand the relationship between children and parents, but it is unlikely a child will grasp the real meaning of more complicated artistic themes like romantic love or vengeance. Consider a work like Edward Hopper’s “Sun in an Empty Room” for the children’s first piece.
Instruct the children to look at the work and write down their first impression of the piece. Encourage them to keep writing until they fully express their initial reactions to the image. Once finished, instruct the children to place the paper they just wrote to the side.
Ask the children to look at the piece again, while thinking about the aesthetic elements in the work. Ask them to consider the presentation of the work. As an example, in “Sun in an Empty Room,” children may notice the light streaming in through the window, the feeling of emptiness in the room or the contrast between lit areas and shaded areas. Encourage the children to discuss the image with each other, comparing each other’s observations as they look at the work.
Ask the children to consider what the piece of art means to them, such as how it makes them feel personally, what ideas it gives them or how they can relate the image to something else in their lives. Include a few activities, such as asking them to write a story which takes place in the image or to draw a picture of their own using some of the same elements, allowing students to mimic and personalize some of the qualities of the work. For instance, after seeing “Sun in an Empty Room,” children may write a story about a home they once lived in or the feeling of moving into a new home.
Instruct the children to read over their initial reaction. Ask them to consider the work again, after thinking about the aesthetics of the work and their own relation to the piece. Ask them if their final reaction is similar to their initial reaction, or if it has changed as they analyzed the work.