Introducing children in their early years to arts hold more benefits than mere entertainment
While parents/guardians may see arts, both performing and visual, as entertainment and used to pass time, in the field of education, arts are recognised to have a profound and positive impact on a child’s education.
Through arts, children’s curiosity and creativity is encouraged and they learn to articulate their thinking and learning confidently and clearly – making their thinking and learning more visible to those around them. Children learn to express themselves in many ways and through many mediums.
Ms. Natania Odayar, a grade 00 teacher at Crawford International Bryanston says that by combining the visual arts and music, she can further enhance and develop her students’ cognitive abilities and executive functioning. Music inspired art are one of many creative activities that Ms. Odayar uses in her classroom to help children express themselves and become aware of their emotions. Ms. Odayar’s Grade 00 students were tasked to listen to two different genres of instrumental music (classical and rock) and paint a picture according to how the music makes them feel. This activity is inspired by Wassily Kandinsky.
Through the combination of music and the visual arts, students are encouraged to express their thoughts and emotions. This is done by asking the children to represent their thoughts or emotions visually through drawing or painting. For example, playing soft classical music may create a sense of calm and tranquillity, and be represented visually by soft wavy lines and colours, while rock music may create excitement and a more energetic atmosphere – this may be represented using stronger colours and bolder marks.
- Develops emotional intelligence.
Through music inspired arts activities, Ms. Odayar discovered that some students found it difficult to realise and express their true emotions. However, by capitalising on the opportunities presented through listening carefully to songs, relaxing and taking a calmer approach, students could better understand, use, and manage their emotions, and articulate their feelings to others by representing how they were feeling.
2. Increases attention span.
When children’s curiosity is sparked and they engage fully in an activity, their attention span is increased. This promotes learning in a playful and effective manner and helps to build their understanding, skills, and knowledge to the fullest. The use of arts within the classroom environment further embraced an inclusive approach, which then ensured that every child in the classroom participated in a rich learning experience.
3. Develops confidence and self-esteem.
Children demonstrate certain sensibilities while growing and developing. Some children find it easier to express themselves than others and by using the performing and visual arts (mark making) a child’s confidence, self-worth and sense of belonging can be increased. They learn to collaborate and communicate effectively with others, and where they feel safe and accepted, they become more comfortable, confident, and open to learning, and are more willing to take risks and problem solve.
4. Develops critical thinking skills.
The development of critical thinking skills is essential and involves students using their existing and newfound knowledge to think through and solve problems or challenges. They need to be able to identify, name, compare and classify information, and this can be done through music and visual arts. They can use colours and lines in various ways to best express what they are feeling or thinking. Ms. Odayar further stated that arts provide students with the opportunity to brainstorm and engage in deeper discussions around options, possibilities, and opportunities.
5. Improves decision making.
Ms. Odayar believes that allowing children to choose which music they want to listen to and the art they would like to produce, sets them up for better academic success. Offering your child choices from an early age strengthens their ability to make decisions and think critically.
Ms. Odayar believes that by exposing one’s child to arts from an early age, not only are you able to build up their cognitive abilities but you can help them to become self-confident individuals who celebrate and recognise their unique qualities and strengths and use these to become competent and happy citizens of the future.