Ohio Assessments for Educators (OAE) Early Childhood Practice Exam

To promote creative development during finger-painting, children should be encouraged to do which of the following?

1. Create representations of people, objects, and scenes from their everyday lives

2. Identify the colors they are using in their paintings

3. Use different parts of their hands to explore how each part makes a different kind of mark

4. Describe to an adult what they are depicting in their paintings

The correct answer is: Use different parts of their hands to explore how each part makes a different kind of mark

Encouraging children to use different parts of their hands to explore how each part makes a different kind of mark promotes their creative development during finger-painting. This approach allows children to engage in a sensory experience with the paint, fostering their motor skills, as they learn to manipulate paint with various parts of their hands, such as fingertips, palms, and knuckles. It opens up opportunities for experimentation and discovery, leading to enhanced creativity as children explore the different textures and effects they can create. This tactile exploration is crucial because it not only stimulates artistic expression but also allows for cognitive growth, as children begin to understand cause and effect in their artistic process. By focusing on the physical act of painting and the sensations it brings, children can immerse themselves in creativity without being confined to specific representations or expectations, thus allowing their imaginations to flourish.