THE VISUAL ARTS AS A THERAPEUTIC PROCESS FOR

This article discusses the use of visual arts activities to help young children cope with separation anxiety and sibling rivalry. Addressed to preschool and elementary school teachers seeking therapeutic classroom activities, the article suggests ways of using children's literature as starting points for drawing activities focused on anxiety issues in the stories. Three fundamentals of the creative process are described: experience, expression, and communication. The experience is the act of viewing a page in a picture book chosen for each topic and having the children relate to it by drawing on their own experiences. The expression will be the child's ability to bring that experience to a visual form in a work of art. Communication is the child's ability to verbalize his or her thoughts and feelings on this creation. The article suggests sample books along with descriptions of the creative process and provides samples of children's art. (JPB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document