Creative Arts

Cognitive

Your child explores art and creativity in their way beginning in infancy. In fact, many kinds of play are considered early exploration of art. For instance, singing, dancing, and drawing allow your child to engage their senses and begin to explore different concepts. All forms of art such as music, drawing, dancing, and playing instruments encourage your child’s brain to make new connections. These new connections will help your child’s brain wire itself for better learning, problem-solving, and planning in the future. Some specific activities that encourage cognitive development involve learning about mixing colors through painting, learning about instruments and music, and practicing mental imagery and creativity through drawing. Moreover, physical activity such as dancing can help keep your child’s brain strong. Research has shown that in places where children are exposed to art as part of their core learning, they are able to learn in better ways as well as find new pathways for success and thinking.

Motor

The arts can encourage motor development in two ways: Gross Motor and Fine Motor skills. Gross motor skills are the large, full-body movements that a child makes, and Fine motor skills are the smaller, more precise movements, such as holding a pencil. When a child can dance along to music, whether it is structured through teaching, or unstructured as a part of free play alongside music, they are making many connections in their little brains and bodies. Dancing allows a child to learn how and where to move their body as a unit. These movements not only help connect wires in their brains but in their bodies as well. They can practice and learn how to move their body in synchrony as well as strengthen their muscles and balance. Dancing is also a form of exercise that helps keep your child healthy. Similarly, other forms of art, such as drawing can greatly affect a child’s fine motor skills. Grasping crayons and paintbrushes aid your little one’s fingers and hands to move in new and important ways. They are also able to receive a lot of different sensory input that helps them better explore texture and various forms of pressure with their hands. These early drawing skills help children to better achieve later life skills like tying shoes, buttoning jackets, and other skills necessary for daily living.

Literacy/Math

Research has shown that the more musical exposure that children are given, the better their reading development. Music helps children to tune into complex tones and interpret them in much the same way they are later required to do when reading. Additionally, activities like drawing and looking at pictures help children begin to understand how images and symbols can have meaning which is a key for early literacy and math skills. Watching and listening to different forms of art will help your child begin to decode the world around them and help give them more skills for learning literacy and mathematic skills.

Social

Overall, the arts are fun for your child. Listening to music, grooving out with peers, drawing a pretty picture, and more allow your child to explore their world and the people around them. Through activities such as dancing and listening to music, children can learn about how to interact with others. Moreover, children can learn to work together to create something. This can be major in helping them socialize and feel needed by others. Children can also explore their own emotions through creativity and art, allowing them to better express themselves to you and others.

SOURCES

RESOURCE CREDIT: Jane Midkiff | HDCD master’s candidate | University of Texas at Dallas