Artful Inquiry-Case study

What is the role of

imagination and fantasy in the
artwork of young children?
Let's look at 10 young children's
artworks from Global Children's
Art Gallery
 Spring Meadows
Marker and Crayon
Veronica V.
Age 7

Texas, USA

Veronica used a variety of organic shapes in her piece to

create her flowers, bee, and butterfly. She used many circular
and oval shapes as well as triangles for the middle flower in
the bunch on the ground. She used the primary colors of red,
blue, and yellow as well as some secondary colors. She used
the element of line for many components of her piece, but
particularly I noticed her use of line to convey movement of
the bee and butterfly in the sky. Her use of negative space by
not coloring in the background made it easy to view what was
the focal point of her piece.
 Hummingbird
Marker
Shanti N.
Age 4

Washington, USA

The first thing you will notice in this piece is the

overwhelming use of the primary colors blue and yellow as
well as how Shanti used many different colors for the body
of the hummingbird such as purple, pink, yellow, red,
orange, and blue. The geometric shape of an oval was used
for the body of the hummingbird and its head. Whereas
organic shapes were used for the wings and beak. Shanti
used lines for the hummingbird’s feet and legs as well as to
add detail to the head. The darkest value of black was used
for the beak and to colour in the eye of the bird, this really
stuck out to me as the bird appeared to be staring at me.
 Ballerina
Marker
Sarah D.
Age 5

South Dakota, USA

In this artwork, Sarah implemented the art element of

line with by using the lines for the hair, arms, body, and legs.
Sarah also demonstrated the art element of shape by
drawing a circle for the face and some circles on the
person’s outfit. Sarah also used small circles to demonstrate
the hands and feet. Sarah also used a lot of the secondary
colour of purple in this artwork.
 Colorful Winter
Watercolor
Jasmine T.
Age 6

Illinois, USA

Simple lines were created to add thick and thin branches to

the trees. The curvy lines set a scenic view of a blanket of snow on
the ground with the sunset sky. The artist had me curious
and engaged with wonderment. I was imagining where might the
snow-covered path lead to. It also adds an illusion of depth as it
went into the distance; known as space. Jasmine incorporated an
array of colors. soft colors and bold colors to add contrast
to her art created. Using different hues of colors added the
effect of value, as your eyes gaze into the sunset behind the
trees. Jasmine's art creation, has ​me reflecting of the
happiness the first snowfall makes me feel. The soft snow falling
from the sky and covered the ground in freshly
fluffy snowflakes. The organic shape of the trees and the
colors, had me thinking that the artist might have been noticing
seasonal changes in their surroundings. The first snowfall
on autumn trees.
 Pays des Coeurs(Land of
Hearts)
Colored pen
Frederic B.
Age 6

Quebec, Canada

This artwork shows the scenery that has green land

with mountains and hearts. Frederic demonstrated the art
element of colour by layering the land with different colours
to distinguish the layers. Also, Frederic demonstrated the art
element of line-curvy-mountains, wavy-the brown wavy
lines on top, and straight lines-the lines to layer the land. In
addition, the pattern is that all the hearts are in the part
that is purple (the purple part in the middle or the purple
things at the bottom).
 Flowers
Watercolor
Mackenzie J.
Age 4

USA

The types of lines in this piece are curved within the flowers,
wavy brush strokes of the red clouds, straight lines for the flower
stems, and parallel with the grass paint strokes. There is circle
geometric shapes for the flowers. Rectangle geometric within the
thick strokes of the brush used for the stems of the flowers.
Organic shapes as it looks like the brush was used to blot a circle-
ish sun into the sky or maybe it’s a puffy cloud. The examples of
texture I see are implied. The brush strokes of the red
cloud/airplane give a motion of movement to it.

(continue on next page)

 Flowers
Watercolor
Mackenzie J.
Age 4

USA

For texture, the brush strokes of the petals make me see

smoothness. In the strokes of the grass, you can see different
levels of depth, and in the center of the main flower, the double
color makes me visualize a roughness or un-even surface to it. I
can see the use of positive and negative space in this image. The
flowers in the foreground are the positive space and the subject
of focus. The contrasting white background with no color is the
negative space and lets us focus only on the drawn and colored
images. Colors were chosen to represent both real-life and
imagination. The colorful petals are displaying a unique flower
and I am unsure of what the elements up in the sky represent but
I would like to think they represent a sun and an airplane. I can
see some color mixing as well as using both primary and
secondary colors.
 My Aunt's New Cat Destiné
Crayon and watercolor
Claire J.
Age 7

Paris, France

Claire has demonstrated a lot of creativity in her

representation of this cat which has the power to make you look
twice at the eyes and tail which creates the illusion that the tail is
detached when it may be how she colored the beginning point of
the tail white. The right eye makes you think its just another shape
or could be 2 eyes, but when you look closely there is only one eye
with distinct shading and coloring. There is a pattern in her design
with the spotted colors of black and white (like a Dalmatian dog).
Claire has favoured shapes with her artwork as well as a few lines.
The whiskers on the cat could be considered lines or texture.
Claire's style in her artwork consists of a lot of circle shapes and
she has created a very unique piece of art here in the manner in
which she has portrayed the image in her mind of her aunts’ cat.
Dancing Mice
Marker and Crayon
Megan B.
Age 7

British Colombia Canada

Megan’s artwork reflects how she views nature (joyful, lively

and harmonious). She has used the elements of art with lines,
colors, shapes, and space. Her creativity is evident in her choices of
color palettes. Her theme involves all the beauty that surrounds
nature. She used different elements in her composition in the way
she combined and arranged her pieces of art with the bees flying
around the happy dancing mice. The trees and flowers are neatly
spread out on the bottom and the sun is positioned in the perfect
position. This piece of artwork is very well organized, unique,
colorful, and fresh. Her artwork prompts joyful emotions when
viewing because of how happy the dancing mice are.
 Sea Life
Oil pastel
Shreya G.
Age 7

London, UK

Several shapes of sea animals are brought to life, as I gaze into

the picture.​ The artist used both geometric and organic shapes.
The artist utilized the entire page, by adding direction and
movement to the sea animals in the water. The artist
used various lines within the art piece; Thin, thick, curvy,
and scalloped. The bright and light colors are captivating to the eye
when you first look at all the details incorporated. The artist
captured emotion within the drawing, as each sea creature has a
big smile. This made me smile and I felt connected on how
visiting the ocean and sea animals make me feel. Some of
the drawings appear to have texture; by adding spikes,
points, and smooth round edges. It allows viewers to get into the
idea of how it may feel.
 Horses
Pastel
Ana C.
Age 5

Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Types of lines that I can see are curved (rainbow, sun,

apples/flowers) wavy (clouds, horse body shapes), zig-zag
(grass), straight/diagonal (rain, additional grass), parallel (sun
rays, strands of hair on the horses’ manes and tails). –
Circle/Round Geometric (sun, apples/flowers on the ground),
Triangle Geometric (peaks in the grass), Organic shapes (curved
clouds, bent rainbow, horse bodies). Sky has an almost bumpy
looking different texture from the rest of the drawing. It almost
makes it look like the sun is giving off a reflection of light
through the sky. Diagonal rain lines to give impression of falling
rain/water/wetness. Added different color lines in the grass as
well as the triangle peaks to give the grass more visual body.
Flowing lines in the horses' manes and tails to show the imitated
“hair stands”.

(continue on next page)

 Horses
Pastel
Ana C.
Age 5

Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Flowers/apples drawn on the ground and the

sun/clouds up in the sky. The falling rain is drawn in front of
the rainbow, showing that the rainbow must be
further away in the sky than the location of the clouds. One
horse is also placed in front of the other showing us that the
smaller horse in this image is closer to the viewer than the
adult horse. The different shading in the grass colors could
have been used to imitate different depth levels of the grass
as well as the grass in the background is further away and
blended/less defined than the grass up front. The way the
horses were drawn demonstrates form. One side of the
body legs in front of the other and one horse in front of the
other show us that there is a three-dimensional shape to
the horses.
 Our Findings

The themes that tend to emerge in the majority of

chosen young children’s artwork is nature and all
the beauty that surrounds it like flowers, bees,
grass, bright colors. Young children tend to
favor lines as their choice of artwork.

Each picture shared a story that each individual child

looked in a different lense-their own creativity and
imagination. Each child created their artworks that
could be based on real-life experiences (what they
have seen in their own life), and the children
interpreted these experiences in their artworks to
make the viewers feel like that they were in the
experience-an element of storytelling. In addition,
the children used a variety of primary and secondary
colours plus a variety of art elements-lines, colours,
space, value, etc to demonstrate their unique ideas.
 Conclusion

What is the role of imagination

and fantasy in the artwork of
young children?
 Conclusion

The role of imagination and fantasy in the artwork of

young children – letting children use their own
creative imagination during artwork helps them
express their emotions better and helps them to
learn how to think outside the box with their ideas as
they test them out using different art materials and
mediums. Using imagination creates endless
possibilities. Also, fantasy and imagination help build
creativity, Adele says.
 Conclusion

The role of imagination and fantasy in the artwork

of young children is giving children the freedom,
time, and endless materials to create using
their imagination. Ensuring as educators we are
valuing each unique child and respecting their
individual differences. Allowing the children the gift
of thinking outside of the box with “what if” or
“wonderment” open ended questions, Josie says

The role of imagination and fantasy in the artwork of

young children is to let children have space to use
their creativity and express themselves through art
the way they like. Also, when the children have room
to use their creativity, they would be more engaged
in what they are doing and more interest in learning
about it, Vy says
 Conclusion

The role of imagination in the artwork of children is

the freedom to put their critical thinking of what
they envision into artwork. Also, children are very
creative at a young age and should be exposed to an
environment daily that encourages them to use their
creative minds. Children tend to draw from their
own personal experiences in life therefore creating
lots of positive experiences in our practice for them
to draw from is the key. Art provides an outlet for
children to understand themselves and the world
around that cannot be achieved through any other
means, Madison says
 Conclusion

Although most of the time, artwork is inspired by

real-life experiences as seen in our art gallery
photos, in order to bring these experiences to life
through the lens of their own unique
perspectives, children need imagination. In the end
without imagination and fantasy, there would be no
individualism in children’s work, and everything
would be bland, boring, and repetitive, Shannon says
 Recommendations
for future research or
art education
practices

Giving children materials and broad topics that

could be related to their families/hobbies/interests
so that the children's imagination has room to
grow

Inviting local artists to talk about their artworks

(how they make them and/or the stories behind
them). This could happen once or twice a year if
possible. Perhaps it could get the children interest
in art elements and creating artworks.

Inviting one child's family once a month to talk

about art of their own culture and perhaps they
can make artworks with the class. After that this
documentation could be displayed in the classroom
 Recommendations
for future research or
art education
practices
Taking the children to an Art Gallery or view an Art
Gallery on YouTube.

Starting each day in a positive way by allowing

the children time and space (at least 15 minutes)
to draw anything that comes to their minds. This
will help boosting their confidence. This will also
make the children feel more engaged, enhance
their creativity, and activate their brains for their
day ahead.

Having a binder available for each child to keep

their artwork organized. Binders could be a place
for the children to retain their work to share if they
wish or to take home daily to show off their
creative masterpieces.
 Recommendations
for future research or
art education
practices

Having an art night for the classroom to showcase

all the artworks that children make throughout the
year. We could let the children set up the night and
they could present their art pieces in front of the
families. This art night could happen once or twice
a year if possible

Having the children construct an elements of art

booklet themselves at the beginning of the year to
guide them in their artwork.

Providing a bright organized environment with lots

of materials and space. It would be better to have a
separate art room.
References:
All of the artworks are from Global Children's Art Gallery
The Natural Child Project. (n.d.). Global children's art
gallery. Global Children's Art Gallery (naturalchild.org)
 This case study was
created by Josie
Sheehan, Adele
Gemmell, Shannon Phillips,
Vy Ngo-Mckillop,
and Madison Tozer