One of my first memories is of playing in the sand and the feel of the rough texture against my hands.  I was making a mess, getting sand outside of the sandbox.  I don't remember being told to keep the sand in the box, or to stop getting it all over the place.  I was enjoying the experience, and I am positive that it left a long-standing impression on my budding creative mind.

For the last 10 years I have been teaching art to all ages of learners, from art history with high school seniors to clay techniques with 4 year olds. I don't think it matters what age you are- it is important to be allowed to explore your inner artist and creativity.  That involves making a mess! 

While teaching preschool so often I heard, "don't do that, it is messy" or "put that down, you might get it everywhere!"  I was frustrated with my fellow teachers and parents!  When did we become so controlling and overwhelming when dealing with impressionable minds?  When I was in school and learning so many wonderful educational tools to use in the classroom, one thing was told to me that stayed with me.  It is said that by the age of 3 your entire personality has already started generating itself inside your young head.  Most of your habits, ideas of others, and future behavior patterns are already ingrained.  Should part of that be "put it down" or "don't do that?"  

Along with learning how to express themselves and explore their creativity, messy play and art activities allow children to learn about themselves, social interaction, and self-expression.  Children go through phases of art and development along the way that need to be respected and encouraged by those around them.  In a child's mind, their art is unique and special and if it is not acknowledged and encouraged, it will not grow and develop.

Children go through three basic developmental stages of art in their first years.  First is the Scribbling Stage.  All children gravitate to things that can create marks and their beginning art is random scribbles.  They are anything but random to the artist though!  Ask a child about their drawing and they will tell you many things.  What looks like a collection of lines, circles, and dots are special creations made for the sheer physicality of drawing.  Children are experimenting with grip, arm movement, and hand-eye coordination during this phase.  A fun project idea is to provide large sheets of paper or area for young ones to draw on and a variety of mark making objects for them to try out. Cover an area with a large piece of paper, a table or wall at the child’s level, and provide them with paint, crayons, markers, and pens.  This allows them to try different grips and arm movements.  They are usually very proud of the outcome, and feel really positive about the opportunity to create on such a large scale.

Next comes the Basic Forms Stage where, through encouragement of experimentation of the Scribbling Stage, young artist begin creating forms such as circles with arms and legs coming out of them.  This is a large milestone in the creative process and colors, shapes, numbers, and letters are starting to be recognized and understood through this development also.  They find their way into the child’s art, and many times you might find a child only using one color in their work because it is their favorite.  This stage is very expressive and most times not representational.  Many make the mistake of assuming about artwork instead of asking what the drawing is about.  Children at this stage love to talk about their work and sometimes the story changes from telling to telling.  At this time it is important to allow children as long or as little time to create their work, and to ask about their work.  I take the time to write down what they tell me on the back of their paper, the front is their creation. 

Children then move into the Symbolic Stage that usually correlates about the time they figure out how to construct a square.  They become egocentric about their artwork and it becomes more representational.  Artwork becomes detailed and involved.  Children leave this stage and move forward around the age of 5 or 6.  Not all young ones develop at the same pace which is completely normal.  During the Symbolic Stage, it is important to provide manipulatives such as clay, glue, and other tactile materials for artists.  If messy activates are not provided during the Symbolic Stage, some might loose the idea of texture and learning and playing through touch.  I like to do creative rubbings with students at this stage, giving each a crayon and a piece of paper and use the outdoors to provide lots of stimulating textures to rub against.  Try not to provide young artists with an example of a finished project that they should try to emulate.  This can cause frustration – a child cannot create at the same level as an adult nor should be expected to.

As adults, we spend lots of time thinking about how to solve problems, clean things up, and keep things organized.  A child’s mind is all about touching, smelling, tasting; making a mess!  Instead of trying to contain and control a child, it is important to make sure there are no restrictions on art activities so that they can create and learn on their own.  If messy art activities are removed from a pre-school environment, students loose out on tactile, hand-eye development, coordination, and visual stimulation that is important to their well-being.  Just remember, messy activities need to be cleaned up!  Instead of spending time concentrating on the mess being made, enjoy the learning moment and think of how to make clean-up part of the fun!