Children's "income" in artistic activities essentially embodies the purpose and task of artistic activities. There are many understandings and views on the purpose of children's art education in history, and the representative ones are:

instrumentalism

Instrumentalists believe that art education should conform to children's natural development, understand the world and self through children's spontaneous and free expression, take art as a means of educating children, and position the purpose of art education on children's all-round development.

Essence theory

Essentialists emphasize the value of art and think that the main value of art education lies in its unique contribution to personal experience, and art ability is the result of learning, so there should be good curriculum design and evaluation.

Sensory education theory

Sensory educators believe that art training can train people's eye acuity and muscle flexibility, and take children's painting as a means to cultivate children's observation ability and hand-eye coordination ability.