Essay On Creative Arts

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The Creative Arts play a significant role in early childhood education as it provides children with a diverse range of skills to enhance their learning and development to meet the needs of succeeding in the 21st century. Educators can promote The Arts by adopting the Reggio Emilia approach to education, encouraging children to co-construct the curriculum to develop their skills in partnership with teachers, families and their cohorts. The focus of this essay is to emphasise the value of Creative Arts in early childhood education by providing a summary of the concepts and skills of the Creative Arts and the four strands; Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts. Then, ascertain how Creative Arts benefit children’s social development, language and …show more content…

Creative Arts in early childhood education refers to children’s participation in a variety of activities that engage their minds, bodies and senses (Sinclair, Jeanneret & O’Toole, 2012; Kearns, 2017); to inspire all children with the opportunity for creative and imaginative expression. Duffy (2006) and Sinclair et al. (2012) state that creativity is the process where children use their imagination to problem solve, develop new ideas, independence and flexibility to accomplish tasks. Furthermore, when educators foster creativity, they are assisting children in making meaning through play and developing their growing capacity to communicate, collaborate and think critically to meet the demands of life in the 21st century (Duffy, 2006; Korn-Bursztyn, 2012; Sinclair et al., 2012). According to the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2017a, version 8.3) by participating in the four strands of Creative Arts; Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts it enables children to explore, form and express their understanding of themselves and others as they make sense of their world. For instance, when children participate in Dance they are …show more content…

The Reggio Emilia approach endorses children’s sensory development by promoting hands-on discovery experiences in the curriculum that are derived from children’s interests (Russell-Bowie, 2012; Twigg & Gravis, 2010). Vecchi (2010) and Mai (2011) believe that by incorporating children’s interests in multi-sensory activities through Creative Arts offers more learning opportunities for children to use all senses and languages to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. This is evident when children articulate ideas and make meaning by dancing, drawing, role playing, singing and sculpting; meeting the EYLF outcomes 3.2.5 and 5.3.3 (DEEWR, 2009). Furthermore, ACARA (2017f, v.8.3) states that the Australian curriculum builds on the EYLF by engaging students’ minds, bodies and senses in purposeful and creative play throughout each strand of The Arts

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