Process Vs Product

Process Verses Product

When it comes to children’s artwork, the term “process versus product” can mean different things to different people. Process artwork allows children to explore the different possibilities with the supplies they have been given with. No two works of art will look the same. Product art work is more in the form of having the children all do the same thing, resulting in all the art work looking alike. Most of the time once a child starts going to school, their artwork falls in the product category.

I personally enjoy process artwork. I find that the children enjoy this type of art better then being told that they need to cut on the dotted lines and they have to glue this there. I am a huge believe that the process is more important than the product when it comes to art work in the age group of eighteen months to five years of age. When you let a child take control of their own imagination, you are allowing them to learn to think for themselves and to learn new skills on their own. The thrill they get when they accomplish something new will they are working away on the project is more exciting to them then the actually project. No one child thinks the same or sees objects and the uses as the same. Process art are allows kids to be creative and imaginative. As Mary Ann Kohl states in her 1994 book, Preschool Art, “process not product means that you can explore art materials and enjoy what happens. You don’t have to copy an adult make or even try to make something a friend has made. There is no right or wrong way for these art ideas to turn out; there is only YOUR way. YOU are the artist. (Pg. 5).

I think that process should be stressed over product. So many times I see the teacher walk over and "fix" the child's artwork. This says to the child, what you did wasn't good enough. Children should be allowed