TEACHING YOUNG CHILDREN
Chapter 16
The Creative Arts
Creativity is…
• digging deeper.
• looking twice.
• crossing out mistakes.
• talking/listening to a cat.
• getting in deep water.
• getting out from behind locked doors.
• plugging in the sun.
• wanting to know.
• having a ball.
• building sand castles.
• singing in your own way.
• shaking hands with the future.
Defining Creativity
• Novelty
– Adults: idea or product must be new, or novel
– Young Children: consider “new” to the child who
produced the idea/product
• New to the person who created it
• Appropriateness
– Adults: acceptable and useful by some sort of
criteria, variable by culture and group
– Children: when efforts are meaningful to them
they are appropriate
Characteristics of Creative Individuals
• Curiosity: Consistently ask meaningful questions
• Flexibility: Try new approaches to problems
• Sensitivity to problems: Quickly identify
problems
• Originality: Unusual ideas/create original products
• Independence: Comfortable working alone
• Redefinition: Combine ideas/materials in new
ways
• Penetration: Spend time thinking deeply
Assisting with the Creative Process
• Adults who value creativity
– Value process and originality
• Low-risk early childhood settings
– Failure is acceptable and normal
• Freedom to explore
– Provide blocks of time and choice
• Open-ended materials
– Paint, paper, musical instruments, dramatic play
props, etc.
Creativity & Play
• Play and creativity are closely linked
• Highly creative adults often describe their
creative acts as “playing around” with ideas or
materials
• A playful mindset is beneficial to productive
thought
• Sheer pleasure, sheer fun
The Young Artist
• Why include the arts?
– To help children express feelings and ideas
– Adults can integrate academics through art, to
help children see connections and find patterns
– The arts provide children with a universal
language for communication
Misconceptions about Art
• Art is a nonessential element of the
curriculum
• Discovering talent is the goal
• You must have performance skills in art to
teach it
• Creative art experiences are adult-centered
• The early childhood professional is uninvolved
Developmental Trends
• Birth – 2 Years
– Scribbling and mark-making stage
– Random to controlled
• 2 – 4 Years
– Personal symbol and design
– Includes features important to child
• 4 – 7 Years
– Attempts at public representation
– More recognizable to others, more detail
• Later Primary and up
– Realism, realistic details
Art Curriculum
• Four Central Elements
– Sensing and experiencing
– Making art
– Learning about art, artists and their styles
– Aesthetics
• Discipline-Based Art Education
– Designed for primary grades and beyond
– Promotes developing the technical skills needed in
art production and teaching four disciplines that
help children create, understand, and appreciate art
The Adult’s Role in Art Experiences
• Provide a variety of appropriate materials
• Value creativity
• Describe and/or demonstrate appropriate
uses for art tools and materials
• Avoid the use of models
• Emphasize process of art rather than product
• Talk about art with children
• Display children’s art
Talking About Art
• Six questions to ask yourself as you prepare to
talk with children
– What is it made of? (size, tools, medium)
– What do you see? (lines, angles, shapes, colors)
– What does it represent? (design, story, symbol)
– How is it organized? (perspective, composition,
view)
– What is it about, what is the nature of
involvement? (violence, peace, love, sadness)
– Where does the idea come from? (imagination, TV)
The Art of Reggio Emilia
• In Reggio Emelia, adults consider art serious
work
• 3 Program Principles:
– Understanding cognitive theories of art
– Motivating children to produce art
– Selecting teaching strategies
Art Activities
• Infants & Toddlers
– Nearly everything ends up in mouth
– Pudding, play-dough, place artwork within view
• Preschoolers
– Mural/Straw painting, crayon rubbings, clay,
attend an art show
• Primary children
– Paper, glue, scissors, crayons, chalk, pastels,
drawing/sketching, crayon shavings,
Music and the Young Child
• The importance of music
– Benefits
• Psychomotor skills – large and small muscles
• Perceptual skills
• Affective development – express feelings
• Cognitive growth
• Social skills – participation, sharing, cooperation
• Cultural understandings
Musical Development
• Infants
– React to loudness, softness, human voice
• Toddlers
– Listen to music, repeat some phrases, enjoy making music
• 3 Years
– Better voice control, master simple songs
• 4 Years
– Can learn basic musical concepts, sing complete songs from memory
• 5 Years
– Maturing sense of pitch, rhythm, and melody
• 6, 7, & 8 Years
– Singing voices approaching maturity, enjoy silliness and word-play
– 10-note range, sense of harmony, awareness of printed music, often
have well-established preferences
Movement & Music
• Movement + Music = Learning
– Include finger plays
– March to music
– Use rhythm instruments
– Provide space for movement and music
Music Curriculum
• 4 Main Elements
– Listening to music
– Responding to music through movement
– Children must have many opportunities to make
music
– Help children begin to understand music and
music-making
Facilitating Musical Experiences
• Plan and prepare the environment
• Encourage creative expression
• Emphasize enjoyment
• Make music fun – demonstrate your own
excitement
• Carefully observe
Music Activities
• Infant/Toddler
– Playfully sing throughout the day
– Play background music
– Place rattles within reach of children
• Preschool
– Scarves/music CD, marching band, music
appreciation
• Primary
– Make music, sing, increase the variety of listening
music, attend live concerts
Creative Dramatics, Theater, and Dance
• Dramatic Play
– Provide opportunities to act out child-chosen themes
– Provide quality play props
– Facilitate this type of play
• Theater
– Primary children are ready for more structured activities
– Puppet stories
– Attend live performances
• Dance
– Adapt movement activities to develop early dance skills
