What's Going On in This Picture? — Slow Looking at Art

Ten unhurried minutes looking at one work of art together and talking about it, using three simple questions from Visual Thinking Strategies. There are no right answers and no art knowledge is needed — only looking, and saying why.

  1. Choose one picture with something happening in it: a painting in an art book, a museum postcard, a picture on a gallery website, or a real painting or sculpture if you are out. Paintings with people, animals or weather work well to begin with.
  2. Look in silence for a slow count of ten. “Let your eyes walk all around it — the corners too.”
  3. Ask, “What’s going on in this picture?” and listen. Point to what the child mentions and repeat their idea back in slightly richer words (“So you think the boy is cold because he’s hugging his arms”).
  4. Follow up with, “What do you see that makes you say that?” — this is the heart of it; the child goes back into the picture for evidence.
  5. Keep it open with, “What more can we find?” Take turns; add your own noticing as an equal, not as the answer.
  6. Finish with a choice: “If you could step into this picture, where would you stand?” or “What would you call it?” Only then, if they are curious, share the real title and the artist’s name.

Variation: play “art detective” with a cardboard-tube telescope to spot small details, or look at two pictures side by side and ask what is the same and what is different. Try a sculpture or a building next and walk all the way round it.

Requirements

  • Space: A sofa, a floor cushion, or a bench in a gallery
  • Surface: None needed
  • Materials: One reproduction of an artwork (book, postcard, calendar page or screen); nothing else
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; works well with two or three children taking turns
  • Supervision: Full participation — the adult asks, listens and paraphrases

Rationale & Objective

Visual art is something to look at and talk about as well as something to make. The three-question routine comes from Visual Thinking Strategies, developed by museum educator Philip Yenawine and psychologist Abigail Housen; Housen’s longitudinal research found that regular VTS discussions increased children’s evidence-based reasoning (“I think… because I see…”) and that the habit transferred beyond art. The Core Knowledge Sequence (Hirsch) builds looking at and talking about specific artworks into kindergarten, the National Core Arts Standards ask kindergartners to “interpret art by identifying subject matter and describing relevant details,” and Singapore’s NEL framework lists sharing ideas and feelings about art among its learning goals. The paraphrasing step feeds vocabulary and sentence structure, and a child who has practised talking about other people’s pictures finds it easier to describe their own choices.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: names single objects (“a dog,” “a boat”); loses interest in under a minute; shrugs at “what makes you say that?”
  • Developing: links things into a simple story (“they’re going fishing”); points to one piece of evidence when asked; stays with a picture for several minutes
  • Proficient: offers interpretations with reasons unprompted (“she’s sad because her head is down and it’s all blue”); notices colour, light or expression as well as objects; listens to and builds on another person’s idea
  • Advanced: holds two possible readings (“or maybe…”), comments on how the artist made it (brushmarks, colours, where things are placed), compares artworks, and asks their own questions about the picture

Safety Notes

  • Preview the artwork — plenty of famous paintings include violence, nudity or frightening scenes that you may want to save for later
  • In museums, agree on the rules before going in (eyes not fingers, walking feet) and keep visits short — one or two artworks is a full outing for a five-year-old
  • Limit screen versions to the single image you chose; an art book or printed postcard avoids the pull of the next video
  • Do not correct “wrong” interpretations; correcting teaches children to stop offering ideas. Asking for evidence does the work

Hints

  • Playfulness: hand over a cardboard-tube telescope or a paper frame to “zoom in.” Take the pose of someone in the painting and guess what they are about to say
  • Sustain interest: keep a small stack of museum postcards or an art calendar and let the child pick the picture of the week for the fridge; revisit old favourites and see what new things turn up
  • Common mistake: turning it into a quiz (“What colour is that? Who painted it?”) or a lecture. Stick to the three questions and let silence do some of the work
  • Limited space: this needs none — try it with a picture-book illustration at bedtime, a mural in the street, or a statue in the park
  • Cross-domain: giving reasons from evidence is early critical thinking and reading comprehension; guessing how people in the picture feel builds emotion understanding; describing position (“behind,” “in the corner”) builds spatial language
  • Progression: pictures with a clear story → pictures with ambiguous moods → portraits → landscapes and still lifes → abstract art and sculpture → comparing two works and choosing a favourite with reasons

Sources

  • Yenawine, P. (2013) — Visual Thinking Strategies: Using Art to Deepen Learning Across School Disciplines (Harvard Education Press)
  • Housen, A. (2002), “Aesthetic Thought, Critical Thinking and Transfer,” Arts and Learning Research Journal, 18(1)
  • Core Knowledge Foundation (E.D. Hirsch) — Core Knowledge Sequence, Kindergarten Visual Arts: looking at and talking about works of art
  • National Core Arts Standards (2014), Visual Arts, Kindergarten — VA:Re8.1.Ka: “Interpret art by identifying subject matter and describing relevant details”
  • Singapore MOE — Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) Framework, Aesthetics and Creative Expression
  • Montessori Cultural Studies — art appreciation with artist picture cards