‘It Is You in My Picture!’ A Holistic Approach toSix‐Year‐OldChildren’s Art Experiences

Abstract

The case study is a part of the research and art‐based developmental project Rinnalla (Side by Side) – Mentors of Arts‐ and Narrative‐based Approaches as a Support for Social‐Emotional Learning and Growth in Early Childhood Education, where arts and narrative‐based methods were used to support children’s social‐emotional growth in early childhood education. This research focuses on six‐year‐old children’s experiences of a fairy tale and music based on H.C. Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. The research questions are: (1) How do children express the emotions they experience while listening to a fairy tale and music? (2) How do the children express and build their peer relationships through communication while drawing? The intervention was implemented in a preschool group of 15 children. The data included around 120 minutes of recorded video and 30 drawings. The holistic and context‐sensitive interpretation method of visual analysis was used to analyse the data. The interpretation demonstrated the importance of peer relationships and offered insight into the context significance. By drawing together and telling small stories in a shared time and place, the children negotiated their roles within the small group. They strengthened friendships and built peer relations. The drawing situation probably exposed pre‐existing tensions between the children, and the children showed interest, support, care, and willingness to welcome others. The music and fairy tale experiences allowed children to process emotions and share their current daily lives.

Aesthetic Education: how art works of the 20th century influence preschool children

“…That is, the demonstration of works of art of any style, and immersion in any art is effective for the development of the aesthetic consciousness of the individual. «All artistic experiences are meaningful and unique» (Granö, Turunen, 2022). Our experience proves that we must take into account age specifics, and sensory specifics at each age stage of the child, which is the basis for the formation of intellectual and artistic abilities.…”

“…Most six-year-olds can transfer three-dimensional environments onto two-dimensional paper. They can also represent complex ideas in their drawings and share accurate information with others» (Granö, Turunen, 2022).…”

Methods and Ethics in Qualitative Research Exploring Young Children’s Voice: A Systematic Review

“…In Oh and Lee’s (2019) ethnography study with two Korean children in an American preschool context, they adopted non-structured conversations with children’s native language, Korean. Granö and Turunen (2022) supported the children who did not speak Finnish (interview language) with simple silhouette pictures. Fane et al (2016) included a child who is learning English as an additional language by using emoji, and encouraged a variety of non-verbal and verbal responses.…”