Recognising and Supporting Young Children's Creative

Arts Experiences

Presented by Rebecca Heenan

Art allow us to create a symbolic world and to ‘shape and reshape,

revise and revision’ our own ‘hidden and subjective’ lives in a

way that allows us to formulate and express ourselves and the worlds in

which we live (Wright, 2012).

Different types of Art

- Music- Dance- Drama

- Media Arts- Visual Arts

Music- Musical development can be reflected by the music that is heard

in the home environment or any given culture (Pound & Harrison, 2003).

- Home: Recreational, Television shows- Educational: Songs- Community: Playgroups, Mothers group, Library sessions- Music can benefit children aged three to five to gain physical

coordination in the form of gaining knowledge of the terms beat and tempo (Pound & Harrison, 2003).

- Boost in confidence

Dance- Connecting humanity and the world (Sansom, 2011)- Dance provides children with the innant need to express thoughts,

feelings and ideas through movement (Sansom, 2011)- Home: Recreational activity- Educational: Accompany to songs- Community: Dance schools to engage in choreographed steps- Early Years Learning Framework Outcome 5: (Children are effective

communicators) they are able to exchange ideas, feelings and understandings using language and representations in play

- Physical development by their ability to coordinate and perform movement tasks

Drama- Home: Dress ups- Educational: Dress ups dependant on learning/plays- Community: Plays- Gaining confidence skills- Children will develop Dramatic Play where children will

be imitate with the world around them through their role play. (Department of Education and Training, 2006)

Media Arts- Radio, film, television and music that creates a living history and represents

our current representation of reality (Wright, 2012)- Home: Technology, Discussions- Educational: Films- Community: Issues- According to the Early Years Learning Framework outcome: 2 - Young children

will explore the diversity of culture, heritage, background and tradition and will understand that diversity presents opportunities for choices and new understandings

Visual Arts- Connecting to the world around us in our own ways of telling a

story and using our feelings, ideas, culture, society and emotions using materials to create imagery

- Home: Drawing, Craft making- Educational: Craft activities- Community: Library sessions- When a child deliberately makes marks this is the beginning of

their visual arts-making development (Schirrmacher, 2002)- Stages of drawing development

What motivates young children is the drive to express emotions and feelings, to communicate with others and to play

both with sounds and ideas (Pound & Harrison, 2003)

Co-Constructivist approaches

- Based on the belief that learning occurs as learners are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information. This suggests that learners are the makers of meaning and knowledge (Gray, n.d.).

- Students are motivated to become independent learners- Exosystem- Co-construction environment- Positive and encouraging- Teacher knowledge and tools

References

- Australian Government: Department of Education and Training (2013). Educator’s Belonging, Being and Becoming: Early Years Learning Framework. Retrieved from: http://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/educators_guide_to_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf

- Balke, E. (2015). Play and the arts: the importance of the 'unimportant.' (Play and the arts in children's education). Retrieved from: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA20119021&v=2.1&u=acuni&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=393c14bfd6e6c92c27aed780e27b81f1

- Burton, S L., Alvarez, J., & Cardany, A B., (2011). Learning from young children: research in early childhood music. R&L Education.

- Department of Education and Training (2006). A basic introduction to child development theories. Retrieved from: http://leo.acu.edu.au/.../content/1/theories_outline.pdf

- DeVries, P. (2004). The Extramusical Effects of Music Lessons on Preschoolers. Australian Journal of Early Childhood. 29(2).

- Donley, S K. (1987). Drawing Development in Children. Retrieved from: http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html

- Gray, A. (n.d). Contructivist Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.saskschoolboards.ca/old/ResearchAndDevelopment/ResearchReports/Instruction/97-07.htm

- Pound, L., & Harrison, C. (2003). Musical Development. Supporting musical development in the early years. (20-40, 145-150). Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.

- S. Wright (2012). Children, Meaning-Making and the Arts. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Australia.

- Sansom, A. N. (2011). Movement and dance in young children’s lives: Crossing the divide (pp. 25-38). New York: Peter Lang.

- Schirrmacher, R. (2002). Art and creative development for young children (4 ed.). Albany, NY: Delmar Thomson Learning.

- Woolfolk, A. & Margetts, K (2013). Educational Psychology 3rd edition. Australia: Pearson

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