This study examines the emergence of aesthetic sensitivity in the young child as a maker of art and as a critic of the work of peers. Two studies were designed to explore the child's own, mostly implicit, assumptions about child art, sensitivity to stylistic and drawing system differences, and to compositional patterns that characterize the work of younger and older children. The first study examined kindergarten children's spontaneous productions; the extent to which certain media, such as paints, brushes, magic markers, pencils, or crayons are preferred modes for either abstract or representational drawings and paintings; and reasons for such preferences. The second study examined elementary school students' aesthetic judgment of peers' art works that were to some extent similar to the children's own work. The study explored the child's conception of child art, and elicited accepting and rejecting responses to typical childhood productions, in an attempt to establish criteria the child used for judging his or her own work. (RH)