Preschool Children’s Views Regarding Art: “Child Artist- Artist Child Project”

The purpose of this study is to identify children’s opinions on art and to raise their awareness about art. This study, conducted between February and April 2008, involved 120 children in the age group of six in the nursery class of a private school in Ankara. For the analysis of the research, 8 children were selected randomly. For the purpose of this study, within the framework a project entitled “Child Artists – Artist Children”, children were encouraged to interact with a work of art and an artist. The method of art criticism was used to enable such an interaction. In the beginning and end of the project, children were asked questions about art, and focus groups were conducted with teachers. Descriptive analysis was used to interpret classroom and workshop observations and teachers’ opinions and categorical analysis, which is a technique of content analysis, was used to interpret video recordings. The results show that children’s experiences, interactions and exchanges throughout the project had positive impacts on their opinions and reactions related with art.