An important subject in the study of education is which teaching materials should be used to facilitate art appreciation during the limited time available in school. Few studies have focused, however, on the optimization of teaching materials for art appreciation. For this reason, we undertook a study to find out what kinds of teaching materials are appropriate for each of the nine developmental stages in education. In the study, we showed three different kinds of pictures to students and collated the feedback that they provided, analyzing the information from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The results provided us with insights into the cognitive tendencies of students in relation to art materials at each developmental stage as well as the kinds of teaching materials that are appropriate for art appreciation in school.