As children grow, there are general sequences of developmental progression that occur. This sequence can be seen across all developmental domains including social, emotional, physical and cognitive growth. Likewise, there are typical steps that a child takes when developing artistic abilities. This is most evident in the child's ability to draw and starts with the scribbling phase in the late infancy/early toddler period. By the time a child is 4 years old, she is amid the pre-schematic stage of drawing. Four-year-olds may still scribble or make messy looking (to an adult's eye) drawings, but they are beginning to make marks that represent people or things. These intentional symbols may not look like a 'typical' or 'normal' version of the person, item or object, but are usually recognizable as a beginning version.
Before creating or administering any type of art checklist, it is vital to fully understand and assess the different media and processes that a 4-year-old would typically be capable of working with. These include general categories of process such as drawing, painting, sculpting or printing as well as more specific sub-areas within each category. Sub-areas or sub-categories may include different ways to use or explore the process such as finger painting, easel painting or sponge painting. Additionally, specific sub-categories in process may feature materials. For example, a drawing checklist may note assessment of using crayons (whether thin or thick), markers or pencils or a sculpting category may look for the use of modeling clay, play clay or clay tools.
Teachers, parents or child-development staff may want to consider tailoring their own checklist to their specific needs. Some individuals or organizations may want an art stage checklist that focuses on one specific area of development such as physical and fine motor abilities, while others may want a more general assessment of the preschoolers' skills. Start by evaluating your needs and the rationale behind the checklist; this will help to shape what is, and is not, included. Create categories that connect to what a 4-year-old should be able to accomplish. These should be reflective of the child's artistic development as well as overall developmental issues such as grasping a drawing utensil or demonstrating eye-hand coordination. Additionally, there should be a method to scoring the items on the list. One simple solution is to assign a point value such as zero for not evident, one for seen sometimes and two for seen regularly.
When creating or administering an art-stage-development checklist to any 4-year-old, it is vital to understand that not all children will develop at the same rate. Although there are typically acceptable views of what is normal, not every regularly developing child will always demonstrate these abilities. Many factors from lack of sleep to poor nutrition may affect the child's responses and behaviors. Additionally, unlike walking or talking, not all families commonly practice art abilities. A 4-year-old may have limited exposure to the arts. If this is the case, demonstrating artistic development may not be possible. A 4-year-old child who has never seen or used a paintbrush or easel will have no idea what to do, possibly making it appear that he or she has a delayed artistic development. In reality, the child most likely has no delay, but is instead in need of instruction or acquaintance with the technique.