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The term ‘3D-art’ refers to any art form that has at least 3 sides. 3D-art is “in the round”, which means that one can look at it from many sides. Modeling with clay, working with play-dough, making creations with paper-boxes and creating other sculpture forms are examples of 3D-art activities.
Young children first learn to use a 3D-material like clay, they go through much the same process of growth as in the scribble stage. At first clay is squeezed through the fingers in a much uncontrolled way comparable to the early scribble stage. The feel of the clay in hand while squeezing, the kinesthetic pleasure alone, is what the child enjoys about the clay. Although a child may occasionally identify a mound of clay as a house, a ball of clay as a car, or, pushing her fist through the top of a chunk of clay, call it a bowl, she is usually interested at this point in the manipulation of the material and discovering what she can do with it . Potter’s clay is a very good 3D-Material for the young child. It is easy to use because it is soft and elastic. It can be bought in either dry or moist form. Plasticene, plastic-type clay, is more expensive and is much harder for the young child to use because it is not as soft and elastic as real clay. Adult supervision prevents toddlers from eating or throwing the clay.
When children’s muscle control gets better, they begin to pat and roll the clay. This matches the controlled scribbling stage. In scribbling and clay work, the children now enjoy seeing the effects of their movements. They find that they can use their hand movements to make the clay roll into their lengths (ropes), pound it, or shape it into balls. An older pre-school child who can draw basic forms can also make clay into similar forms. Rolling clay to make balls is an example of a basic form (circle) in clay; boxes made of clay are examples of basic forms (rectangles) in a 3D-material.
Most children by 4-5 age range like to make definite things with clay. They combine basic forms to build objects that are like figures in drawing. They begin by making simple things out of basic forms. The child working with clay puts together round clay ball (circle) for a head and clay stick type line or lump for a body. Children make human figures, animals, houses, pies and many other things with clay.
Children start to name their clay objects at about the same time they start to name their drawings. This is just as important with clay as with drawing. In both cases, it means the children are expressing their ideas in art. Manipulating and shaping flexible materials has many benefits for young children. It helps them develop tactile perception, the understanding and appreciation of the sense of touch. Modeling also helps to develop the child’s adaptability to change, by use of an ever-flexible material. In modeling 3-D objects, the child’s concepts of form and proportion are strengthened as he learns to make objects with his hands. For Ex :natural clay, play dough, paper pulp.
Assemblage as an art form, ‘assemblage’ refers to placing a no of 3D-objects, natural or man-made, in juxtaposition to create a unified composition. Discarded materials are combined in a new context to express an abstract, poetic or representational theme. Assemblage makes use of 3D-space, resembling a still-life arrangement as objects are first selected, then grouped and regrouped. Assemblage can be a reflection of our urban environment, depicting everyday habits in the selection of food, clothing and objects for household use.
Ex: Every meal is an assemblage, creating order in arrangements of food, tableware and linen that vary according to the type of meal and the occasion.
Some environmental assemblages interested for children includes
- Stores and Marketplaces
- Neighborhoods and Cities
- Bands and Orchestras
- Parades and Processions
- Interiors and Exteriors
- Fairs and Circuses.
Cardboard Construction:
Cardboard, an indispensable material for construction projects, stimulates and challenges the imagination of children on all levels. It is readily available in various forms. Such common place objects as milk and egg cartons, apple-crate dividers, toweling tubes, and assorted sizes of boxes offer unlimited possibilities for creative art projects. Children can prepare cardboard building, puzzles, animal cages, box characters, costumers, puppets etc through their creative ideas.
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