Children of this age have certain cognitive capacities that need to be understood before designing such a program. The three theories outlined below are not the only valid theories in cognitive development but rather offer a good sample of theories to use when creating a children's program.

Jean Piaget & Cognitive Development

• reasoning becomes more logical and increasingly more symbolic
• can solve practical problems with concrete referents
• can not completely think about hypothetical situations, probability, or long-term consequences (but this skill is slowing developing as children move into formal operations)
• can see the world in terms of "here and now"
• can sort and classify objects
• tangible objects, concrete facts, and manipulatives are powerful tools for these children

Lev Vygostky & Cognitive Development

• stresses the importance of human contact and social interaction in development
• calls for the presence of human resources to build scaffolds and help move students through their zone of proximal development
• internalization is a part of development

Erik Erikson & Psychosocial Development

• stage theory of trials for each age group
• children roughly ages 6-11 years experience industry vs. inferiority 
• at this age, children are confronted with a variety and multitude of new tasks
• calls for children to put forth effort and cooperate with peers
• moving successfully past this stage helps children develop feelings of competence and industry
• failing to do will result in feelings of inferiority
• this program offers essential opportunities to work towards industrial behavior

Activity 1: What's Going on Here? An Exercise in Basic Visual Analysis

• providing something visual at which to look provides something concrete for the children to observe and consider
• although some elements of visual analysis are more abstract and complex, exposing children to these kinds of questions can help move them towards hypothetical thinking
• having the activity leader prompt the students with these questions and be able to explain and help lead discussion again helps students work towards abstraction and higher thinking through scaffolds
• discussion with the activity leader and listening to other students' answers support Vygotsky's theory that social interaction is key to cognitive development
• like Erikson's theory, this activity provides students with a challenge of higher thinking through industrious observation and cooperation with others in the group
• students can work to internalize visual analysis to use it later during both similar and different activities in life

Activity 2: Make It Your Own!

• again, visuals and prompting questions are provided to stimulate thinking in the right direction
• discussion about self-portraiture helps the students to use their skill of classifying the following images as self-portraits 
• questions about why artists makes self-portraits both challenge the students' ability to think symbolically towards the hypothetical
• physically drawing a portrait supports Erikson's theory about creating feelings of industry and competency and putting forth effort to achieve those feelings
• discussion about the process of self-portraiture can transfer over the child's own experience making his/her portrait, allowing them to internalize what self-portraiture and the self means in their own life

Activity 3: Jackson Pollocked

• there are many concrete and "here and now" referents for students to use in this activity
  • images of Pollock's work and of him working
  • a video with someone using his technique
  • the activity leader demonstrating the technique in person
• these elements allow students to successfully transfer these skills to creating their own work 
• creating a work similar to Pollock's helps the students make connections to his work and the movement of which he was a part
• the activity leader and the demonstrator in the video act as social scaffolds under Vygotsky's theory
• the physicality of this activity can help move children through the industry vs. inferiority stage, giving them feelings of industrious productivity
• the end product is something children can say they made themselves, again adding to the sense of competency
• reflection questions create opportunities for symbolic and hypothetical thinking

Activity 4: Artist Activity

• having the opportunity to work with a partner may provide a quieter time to focus on the here and now that may have been difficult for some in the chaos of a larger group
• interaction with one other student qualifies as a social interaction that can help development according to Vygotsky
• this activity provides concrete facts and images that will make it easier for children to answer questions and move toward higher thinking
• as always, the students can attempt the task on their own and then use the activity leader as a resource and scaffold if needed
• cooperation with a peer will help the students move towards industry and competency as well

Activity 5: Statue Playground

• the physicality of this activity is great for children in concrete operations- they get to see the statues and physically pose like them
• this physicality also helps the students to better connect to and comprehend the background information as well - they have something visual to link it to and can then be pushed to think more abstractly and hypothetically about Greek and Roman art as a whole
• children will be able to differentiate between and classify the different kinds of mediums of these statues (marble vs. bronze) 
• posing as the statues is a way to introduce perspective-taking in a very basic way
• the intriguing nature of the activity will provide opportunities for social interaction with the other students to talk about their experiences

Activity 6: Art History through the Ages

• the individually-based nature of this activity provides students a chance to test their industrious behavior and to hopefully build confidence in their competency
• it is essential for the activity and group leaders to be available for help and questions in order to support this industriousness and prevent constructs like lack of technological skills to prohibit the learning process
• questions testing basic understanding move into more complex questions that require some higher thinking; this technique is an attempt to expose children to hypothetical thinking and more abstract, intangible ideas
• the idea that children are learning about past events that are not in the "here and now" also challenges their higher thinking skills 
• if possible, the computer game would provide clues and tips, acting as scaffolds to help children reach optimal learning and cognitive understanding