1. Chapter 16: The Creative Arts
Teaching Young Children
Fifth Edition
Michael L. Henniger
Developed by:
Dr. Smith

2. Goals: Chapter 16 Define creativity as it applies to young children
Clarify the roles of art in early childhood settings
Understand music and its importance in the creative arts curriculum
Reflect on early drama, theater, and dance experiences
TURN and TALK: How do you define creativity? What is something creative you have done or would like to do?

3. What is Creativity? Creativity is digging deeper.
Creativity is looking twice.
Creativity is crossing out mistakes.
Creativity is talking/listening to a cat.
Creativity is getting in deep water.
Creativity is getting out from behind locked doors.
Creativity is plugging in the sun.
Creativity is wanting to know.
Creativity is having a ball.
Creativity is building sand castles.
Creativity is singing in your own way.
Creativity is shaking hands with the future.
E. Paul Torrance

4. Creativity: Definition
Novelty
Adults - idea or product must be new, or novel
Young children - consider “new” to the child who produced the idea/product
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

5. Creativity: Characteristics of 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

6. Creativity: Assisting with 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

7. Creativity: Play Play and creativity 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

8. The Young Artist Why include the arts?
To help children express feelings and ideas
Adults can integrate academics though art, to help children see connections and find patterns
The arts provide children with a universal language for communication

9. Young Artist: Misconceptions
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

10. Young Artist: Developmental Trends
Birth-age 2: Scribbling and mark-making stage – random to controlled
2-4 yrs: Personal symbol and design – includes features important to child
4-7 yrs: Attempts at public representation – more recognizable to others, more detail
Later primary and up: Realism – realistic details

11. Young Artist: Art Curriculum
4 central elements (Fox and Schirrmacher, 2012)
Sensing and experiencing
Making art
Learning about art, artists, and their styles
Aesthetics
Discipline-based art education
Deigned for primary grades and beyond

12. Young Artist: The Adult’s Role
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

13. Young Artist: The Adult’s Role, cont.
Talking about art – 6 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)

14. Young Artist: Art of Reggio Emilia
In Reggio Emilia, adults consider art serious work
3 program principles
Understanding cognitive theories of art
Motivating children to produce art
Selecting teaching strategies

15. Young Artist: Activities
Infant/toddler activities
Pudding, play dough, place artwork within view of children
Preschool art ideas
Mural/straw painting, crayon rubbings, clay, attend an art show
Primary art suggestions
Paper, glue, scissors, crayons, paint, chalk, pastels, drawing/sketching

16. 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

17. Music: Musical Development
Infants – respond to loudness and softness of sounds
Toddlers – discriminate/may try to approximate sounds
3 yrs – better voice control, master simple songs
4 yrs – learn pitch, duration, tempo, loudness, 5-note range
5 yrs – maturing sense of pitch, rhythm, and melody
6, 7, 8 yrs – 10-note range, sense of harmony, awareness of printed music, often have well-established preferences

18. Music: Movement and Music
Movement + music = learning
Include finger plays
March to music
Use rhythm instruments
Provide space for movement and music

19. Music: Curriculum for Young Children
4 main elements of music curriculum
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

20. Music: Facilitating Musical Experiences
Plan and prepare the environment
Encourage creative expression
Emphasize enjoyment
Make music fun – demonstrate your own excitement
Carefully observe

21. Music: Activities Infant/toddler music activities
Playfully sing throughout the day
Play background music
Place rattles within reach of children
Preschool music ideas
Scarves/music CD, marching band, music appreciation
Primary music activities
Make music, sing, increase the variety of listening music, attend live concerts

22. 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

23. Summary What is Creativity? The Young Artist Music and the Young Child
Creative Dramatics, Theater, and Dance