Nanny Agency Jobs How-to / checklist

For a simple process-art session, begin with paper and drawing materials the family already approves for the child. You do not need a sample picture for the child to reproduce. The interesting decisions can happen at the table: where a mark goes, whether to change it and when the work feels finished.

NAEYC describes process art as exploration without a predetermined finished product. Here, the focus is the nanny's response to those decisions, using original fictional examples.

Prepare a usable surface, not a model to match

Choose the usual approved place for drawing and make the available materials easy to reach. State any real limits plainly, such as keeping marks on the paper. Leave the picture itself undecided.

Fictional example: Ana puts two sheets of paper and the child's familiar drawing materials on the usual table. Ben asks what they are making. She says, “You can decide what goes on your paper.” He chooses one color and makes a line from one side to the other.

Ana does not add a sun in the corner to get him started. His line is already a beginning. She keeps her hands off his sheet and waits to see what he wants to do next.

Let a choice remain open even when it surprises you

Ben makes several more lines, then turns the paper around. Ana had thought he was drawing a road. She avoids steering the next mark toward that interpretation.

When Ben says, “It's upside down,” she asks whether he wants the paper turned. He says no and draws on the other edge. Ana now understands that upside down describes his idea, not a problem she must fix.

This is a useful practical distinction when a child makes an unexpected choice: do they want assistance with the material, or are they telling you what they are doing? Answer the request you actually received. A crooked sheet can be moved when asked; an unusual picture does not need straightening.

If the child asks you to draw alongside them, use your own paper. Make clear which sheet is yours so your marks do not become additions to a piece they meant to control.

Respond to the work without naming it for the child

Specific observations give you something real to say. “You used this corner too” identifies a visible choice. “That's a wonderful spaceship” assigns a subject the child may never have intended.

In the fictional session, Ben points to a dense patch. Ana says, “There are lots of marks close together here.” Ben answers, “That's where they are hiding.” She follows his description: “The hiding place is here.”

She does not need to ask who is hiding, why they are hiding and what happens next. Ben may want to explain, or he may want to keep drawing. One exchange can be complete without becoming a story exercise.

If your first guess is wrong, accept the correction. “I thought it was a road, but you're telling me it's a hiding place” acknowledges both accounts without insisting that the picture must resemble something recognizable.

Fictional example: when the child asks you to fix it

Ben draws a line through the hiding place and stops. “I ruined it. You do it.”

Ana does not grab the drawing tool or promise to restore the exact earlier picture. She asks which part he wants help with. Ben points to the line: “I wanted it over there.”

Ana says, “That mark is here now. You can keep working on this sheet, use the other side or choose the other sheet.” Ben turns it over. He then asks her to hold the paper while he draws near its edge. That is a clear practical job Ana can do without taking over his picture.

Another child might choose to stop. Another might incorporate the mark. These are possible responses within this invented situation, not a method for making every disappointment disappear. The important detail is that Ana separates holding paper from deciding what Ben should create.

Finish without adding an adult's final touch

Ask before moving a piece that is still in use. When the child indicates that they have finished, follow the family's usual routine for the paper and materials.

In the fictional session, Ben wants both sides left as they are. Ana does not add an outline, title or missing detail to make the drawing easier for someone else to understand. She asks where he wants to place it within the family's agreed space.

A parent later asks what Ben made. Ana can accurately say, “He tried lines in different directions and turned the page over when he wanted another start.” She need not invent a developmental result or supply a subject for the picture.

At the next session, the same materials can support a different decision. There is no need to recreate this drawing or persuade the child to produce a more finished-looking version.

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