The Artist's Label — Title It, Tell It, Sign It

After the child finishes any piece of art, hold a two-minute “artist interview” and write a museum-style label together: a title, the materials, and one thing the artist wants people to know. The child practises describing their own work and the choices they made.

  1. When a piece is finished (or the next day), sit beside the child with the artwork in front of you both. Start with what you actually see: “You’ve used a lot of orange up here, and these lines go right off the edge.”
  2. Open the door: “Tell me about it.” Then wait. Avoid “What is it?” — it may not be anything, and the question suggests it should be.
  3. Ask one or two questions about choices and process: “How did you make this part? What did you do first? Why did you pick that paper? Was anything tricky? Which bit are you most pleased with?”
  4. Ask, “What’s its title?” and write it on a small card exactly as they say it, followed by “by” and the child’s name — which they write or sign themselves — and what it is made of (“paint and foil on cardboard”).
  5. Add one sentence in the child’s own words: “The artist says: …”. Read the whole label back to them.
  6. Display the artwork with its label at child height for a few days, and let the child read or tell the label to a visitor.

Variation: record the interview on a phone instead of writing and play it back. Or reverse roles — the child interviews you about your drawing using the same questions, then writes or dictates your label.

Requirements

  • Space: Wherever the art was made; a spot on a wall, door or fridge for display
  • Surface: None needed
  • Materials: A finished piece of the child's art; small cards or sticky notes; a pen; tape or reusable putty
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child
  • Supervision: Full participation — the adult listens and scribes

Rationale & Objective

“Describes own artwork and the choices made” is a listed example for this subdomain, and the EYFS Early Learning Goal expects children to “share their creations, explaining the process they have used.” The National Core Arts Standards likewise ask kindergartners to “explain the process of making art while creating.” How adults respond matters: Schirrmacher’s classic review of talking with young children about their art recommends replacing judgment (“beautiful!”) and interrogation (“what is it?”) with comments on what is visible and open invitations, which keeps the child in charge of the meaning. Praise aimed at effort and decisions rather than talent supports persistence (Gunderson et al.). Scribing a child’s exact words is a Reggio Emilia documentation practice that shows children their thinking is taken seriously — and connects spoken words to print. Talking through the process also consolidates technique: a child who can say how they made grey can make it again.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: answers with a single word or a shrug; names the subject only (“a cat”); title is the same as the subject
  • Developing: tells a little about what is happening in the picture; answers a direct question about how a part was made; enjoys hearing the label read back
  • Proficient: describes two or more choices with reasons (“I made the sky dark because it’s night and I mixed blue and black”); invents a real title; shows the piece and label to others
  • Advanced: reflects on process and problems (“the legs kept falling off so I made them fatter”), says what they would change next time, and asks thoughtful questions about someone else’s work

Safety Notes

  • No physical risks; the cautions are emotional
  • Do not rewrite or tidy up the child’s words on the label, and do not add to or correct the artwork itself
  • Some days there is nothing to say — accept “I just made it” and try again another time; an interview should never be the price of making art
  • Not everything needs displaying; let the child choose which pieces get a label, and avoid ranking siblings’ work
  • If a five-year-old is very hard to understand or rarely combines words into sentences when describing familiar things, a speech-language check is worthwhile

Hints

  • Playfulness: use a spoon or a hairbrush as an interview microphone — “We’re live at the gallery with the artist!” — or let a puppet be the curious visitor
  • Sustain interest: vary the last line of the label — “The trickiest part was…,” “I got the idea from…,” “Next time I will…”. Collect labelled photos of the art in a book across the year
  • Common mistake: generic praise (“Lovely! Good job!”) that ends the conversation. Describe one thing you really notice, then ask a question and wait
  • Limited space: no wall needed — photograph the artwork with its label and keep a digital album, or peg one piece at a time on a string
  • Cross-domain: dictating a caption and signing a name is early writing; sequencing “first… then…” is narrative language; explaining choices is early metacognition
  • Progression: adult describes and child adds a title → child tells what it shows → child explains how it was made → child gives reasons for choices → child reflects on what to change and interviews another artist

Sources

  • UK EYFS Statutory Framework — ELG Creating with Materials: “share their creations, explaining the process they have used”
  • Schirrmacher, R. (1986), “Talking with Young Children about Their Art,” Young Children, 41(5), 3–7
  • National Core Arts Standards (2014), Visual Arts, Kindergarten — VA:Cr3.1.Ka: “Explain the process of making art while creating”
  • Edwards, C., Gandini, L. & Forman, G. (eds.) — The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education (documentation of children’s words)
  • Gunderson, E.A. et al. (2013), “Parent Praise to 1- to 3-Year-Olds Predicts Children’s Motivational Frameworks 5 Years Later,” Child Development, 84(5)
  • Teaching Strategies GOLD — Objective 33 (explores the visual arts)