Art is an important part of a child's life, through which he learns information from his environment, expresses his understanding of it and, at the same time, fulfils his need for self-fulfilment. In the theoretical part of the thesis entitled The human figure in sculpture - a comparison of the younger and older preschool population, we first presented the development of the human figure in the artistic representation of the preschool child. Then we focused on the field of sculpture, presenting its basic characteristics and all the useful materials and techniques that can be used to create. We also described the sculptural development of pre-school children, referring mainly to the representation of the human figure and comparing it with the development of drawing and the representation of the human figure in drawing.
In the empirical part, we carried out a quantitative study, using a questionnaire, to investigate which artistic fields are predominant in the depiction of the human figure and the reasons for such decisions of preschool teachers. The survey showed that drawing and painting techniques are the most commonly used techniques for depicting the human figure. The reasons for the lower representation of other areas of art were mostly the difficulty in accessing materials, the uncertainty of preschool teachers in carrying out sculpting activities and the more demanding pre-preparation. In the second part of the empirical work, we also carried out an active research in kindergarten, through which we compared the representation of the human figure in drawings and in clay sculptures. The research was carried out with children aged 2-3 and 5-6. In both cases, we found that the human figures in the drawings were more elaborate and detailed than in the clay products. When comparing the products of the two age groups, we found that most of the children aged 2-3 years depicted the human figure in the form of a cephalopod, whereas in the case of the children aged 5-6 years, the torso was already present in the human figure. Differences also emerged in the amount of detail drawn and added to the human figure. The younger children had very few details in their drawings, while the older children had many more.
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