Skills Children Learn Through an Art-Filled Education
A curriculum filled with opportunities for art and creativity boosts a child’s narrative and writing skills, strengthens vocabulary, and engages the brain in higher-level thinking such as questioning, generating ideas, and problem solving. But more importantly, an art-filled education that is child-led brings joy, and develops skills that worksheets and formalized schooling can’t teach.
Innovation
Children are innately curious. When presented with open-ended materials and given the freedom to experiment without any preconceived outcome, they instinctively tap into their huge imaginations and develop their own ideas. When there is no worry about “right” or “wrong,” the creative process makes room for invention, iteration, and innovation.
Observation
Our children live in a fast-paced world. Learning to slow down, observe, and take it all in are such valuable and important skills. Taking the time to really look at a still life while drawing, or spending an hour gazing at art in a museum, teaches our children to embrace solitude and reflection and to be comfortable with a slower pace that feeds our soul.
Collaboration
The ability to collaborate with other people is a highly regarded skill that is important for every aspect of life. Artful and creative experiences are often collaborative in nature and lend themselves perfectly to working in a group. Whether collaborating on a giant mural or figuring out what to construct with a bin of recyclables, children can practice compromising, taking responsibility, work on leadership skills, and learning that their ideas matter even if they aren’t the star of the show.
Embracing Differences
When children are immersed in art making and creativity throughout childhood, they learn to respect everyone’s unique style and point of view. They understand that not everyone thinks or works like they do. Through collaborating on ideas and listening to diverse opinions, children grow up respecting differences and accepting that these differences are what make life more beautiful.
Finding Your Voice
Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, wrote a poem about the 100 Languages of Children in which he recognized the infinite ways that children express their thoughts and feelings. Some children communicate ideas and emotions nonverbally through art and find confidence in knowing that their voice is being heard.
Problem Solving
Creativity goes hand-in-hand with problem-solving. When a child is making something from an array of open-ended materials, they are asking themselves questions, reasoning, and making choices continuously. What if I used this color? How will that balance? What shape can fit here? Learning to envision ideas, plan, and then find solutions to make it work are valuable and necessary skills for success.
Learning From Your Mistakes
Mistakes are a regular and integral part of the creative process. When children are immersed in creativity throughout childhood, they learn that it’s not sensible to abandon something just because you made a mistake. It’s not only wasteful, but it’s a missed opportunity to turn that whoops into a wow! Plus, art making is just another form of play, and mistakes made during play don’t exist. They are merely detours and opportunities to dig deeper into learning.
Trusting Your Abilities
As Pablo Picasso once said, “every child is born an artist.” The problem is how to remain an artist as we grow up. For some reason, as kids grow, they think that being an artist means being good at drawing. Adults often think this too when they say, “I can’t even draw a straight line.” But straight lines have very little to do with art, and drawing isn’t the only indicator of creativity. When children are exposed to many forms of artmaking, they come to understand their own strengths and talents. One child might be good at building and proportions, while another might have an eye for color and design. Through trying new techniques, children learn that there will always be something they are good at, as long as they believe in themselves and trust their abilities.
Presenting Ideas
Children are always telling stories and presenting their ideas. Presenting artwork to families, teachers, or friends offers them a way to practice and hone their narrative skills when. They learn to describe techniques, and recite steps. They learn to think carefully about how to convey a feeling with words. And they gain confidence knowing their voice is worthy and powerful.
Courage to Share
As any artist can attest, sharing your work with the world is akin to baring your soul. It’s very hard and it takes courage. Young children have little problem sharing everything they make because they are not yet aware of how they are perceived by others. At some point, around age three, they begin to understand that other people place a value on what they say, how they act, what they look like, and what they make. This is when children begin to become self-conscious. Creating art at home in a safe space without judgment gives your children countless opportunities to find that courage to share. With practice and repetition, children build resilience and confidence, learning that their ideas have value and that sharing them is worthwhile. As adults, sharing our ideas can lead to new collaborations, innovation, and opportunities to change the world.
Breaking Away from Stereotypes
Creating art and having an art-filled childhood gives children unique and boundless ways to explore their identities and those of their co-artists. Who says blue is for boys and pink is for girls? Boys love pink as much as girls love blue. And who says girls are better artists and boys are better at math? These gender stereotypes can be harmful to children, especially those who fall outside gender norms. The art room therefore becomes a safe space where children learn that they are accepted for who they are without biases, and that nobody is just one thing. We are all made up of many parts and each of us is unique. In the art room, we are not boys or girls — we are artists.
Do you need help reimagining your classroom as a hub of creativity where children share ideas and feel seen, known, and celebrated? Learn more about our Materials Matters course and Professional Learning Workshops and transform your creative practice today.