Curriculum Design: Importance of Art Education for Children

This article explores the significance of art education in the curriculum for children aged 0-5 years. It discusses the benefits of art in developing motor skills, language, decision-making, visual learning, innovativeness, and community awareness. The article also highlights the intentional teaching strategies, documentation, and assessment methods for art education. Overall, it emphasizes the role of art in fostering creativity, critical thinking, and academic improvement in early childhood.

Running Head: Curriculum Design 1
Curriculum Design

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Table of Contents
Information gathering:.....................................................................................................................3
Children –....................................................................................................................................3
Context –......................................................................................................................................3
Curriculum approach –................................................................................................................3
Concept map –.........................................................................................................................5
Questioning:.....................................................................................................................................6
Intentional teaching proposal –....................................................................................................6
Curriculum intent –......................................................................................................................6
Curriculum connections –............................................................................................................7
Concepts, skills and techniques –................................................................................................7
Intentional teaching strategies –..................................................................................................7
Documentation and assessment –................................................................................................8
Planning:..........................................................................................................................................8
Acting:...........................................................................................................................................10
Reflection:......................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Information gathering:
Children –
The paper would strive to focus on the development of learning and evaluating the learning
process through Arts for the children of the age group of 0-5 years.
Context –
It is often seen that schools around give due impetus on the core aspects of reading and
mathematics to develop curriculum leaving aside art education. But it is often seen that simplistic
creative ideas through art education form the building block of child mental development
(UNESCO, 2019).
Figure 1: Art class for the children
Source: (UNESCO, 2019)
Curriculum approach –
The following aspects could be considered for imparting learning process during early childhood
by means of art education –
 Motor skills – The National Institute of Health states that a child is supposed to have
developmental milestone right from the tender age of three years (UNICEF, 2019). It

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could be started by teaching them to draw a circle or a square and cut the figure by a
safety scissor which would develop an urge in them to write.
 Development of language – The children through art education could be made familiar
with kinds of colours, shapes and sizes. In the elementary school itself, the students gets
the opportunity to talk about their creativity and feel excited about it (Carter, Morres,
Repper, & Callaghan, 2016). This phenomenon strives to be a stepping stone for the
children to talk and get language training.
 Decision making – Art education has the potentiality to strengthen the problem solving
ability and critical thinking expertise of the children from an early stage in their life
(Ford, 2013). It happens by letting them choose their preferable colour to draw and paint
the images enhancing their imagination and creative bent of mind.
Figure 2: Artistic liberty at school
Source: (Ford, 2013)
 Visual learning – 21st century is the era of advanced communication technology and the
children nowadays are very much proficient with tablets and smartphones (UNESCO,
2019). In the same manner artistic exercises like drawing and clay modelling has the
potentiality to enrich their visual capability and provide information about the world
beyond their protective periphery (Stichter, Clarke, & Dunlap, 2004).
 Innovativeness – The period of early childhood strive for innovativeness if the children
are given the liberty to freely express themselves and create art on their own. This
phenomenon would have a deep impact as they grow and volunteer to undertake risky

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projects owing to their creative bent of mind to pave for innovativeness for success of the
project (Sams, 2016).
 Community – The cosmopolitan nature of the society delivers an understanding of various
cultures and ethnic groups from a very tender age say as early as three or four years. So
depiction of various art forms by means of its ethnicity or colour strive to develop a
tolerance amongst the children as they grow in a cosmopolitan environment (Chalmers,
2019).
 Improved academia – According to Americans for the Art if the children gets engaged
with any kinds of art form from an early childhood, they are most likely to have good
grades in their study.
Concept map –
Figure 3: Concept map showing role of art in education
Source: (Carter, Morres, Repper, & Callaghan, 2016)
The concept map shown above put focus on art to make the children creative, innovative and
develop as a better human being from a very early age. The map shows for a multidimensional

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approach that the discipline of art could entail in the raw minds of the children during their early
phases from 0-5 years.
Questioning:
Intentional teaching proposal –
The concept of Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) could be drawn for the purpose of
intended teaching proposal in terms of planning and documentation for the learning process of
the children (Giles, Paris, & Whale, 2016).
Figure 4: EYLF concept
Source: (Giles, Paris, & Whale, 2016)
Curriculum intent –
The intent of art discipline in the curriculum would centre on the aspect of self-reliance and
liberty of the children to express their feelings for developing an innovative and creative bent of

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mind. This aspect would be very much helpful in developing themselves well in their academics
and a better person as they grow up (Thompson & Harbaugh, 2013).
Curriculum connections –
The intended teaching proposal would be developed on the light of the EYLF concept enabling
the children to have a strong sense of identity right from their early childhood. Art could be used
as an efficient mode for the children aged 0-5 years to explore with different kinds of colours and
images making them confident with the choices they make (Timmerman, Sen, & Hum, 2018).
The sort of experimentation they go through by means of drawing and clay modelling
emancipates their knowledge and lead to an improved level of learning process having empathy
and respect for others.
Concepts, skills and techniques –
Art is an abstract matter and so art education need to be delivered in an aesthetic manner by the
teachers enabling the children to develop a comfort zone for themselves. This sort of art
pedagogy broadens the horizon of the children in terms of education developing their skills,
creative bent of mind and ability to make their own decision (Naughton, Biesta, & Cole, 2017).
So in-hand practical training on art like drawing, clay modelling and other forms of art would be
very useful in developing the mindset of the kids belonging to their early childhood days.
Figure 5: Colouring session at school
Source: (Naughton, Biesta, & Cole, 2017)
Intentional teaching strategies –
The aspect of drawing, crafting, clay modelling and identifying numbers and objects would be
the most appropriate strategy to enable the children learn new things. The children need to be

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given a proper set-up supported by experienced teachers to help them out in the process and
make suitable decisions while colouring, drawing without any sort of interruption from the
faculties (Caiman & Jakobson, 2019).
Documentation and assessment –
The children in the class would be given due liberty to express their creative intent and the
teachers would support the students accordingly to be a part of this exercise (Kolstad, 2017). It
would be better not to assess the students in terms of grades but provide them with motivation to
indulge in such activities more freely. In this regard the art and craft works created by the
students could be documented by the teachers by means of photograph taken depicting the
seriousness of the children during art classes (Chalmers, 2019). The recorded conversation with
the students and examples of visual art to be documented as a part of assessing their progress in
the class through art education.
Figure 6: Art education during early childhood
Source: (Kolstad, 2017)
Planning:
It would be very much effective for the teachers to keep a track of the progress of the students by
storing their art and craft works. Such sort of artistic pieces would show the creative bent of

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mind of the students and the teacher rather the school could take the advantage to display such
art forms in the art gallery of the school (Costantino, 2015). The institution could also hold an
exhibition to display such pieces to the parents and the wards themselves which would motivate
both the parents and the children for getting a platform to showcase the evolving talent.
The template below shows a process to document the contextual details of the artistic intent of
the students in displaying their creative aspects. It is often seen that the teachers by maintaining
the records through documentation could track the progress of the students and communicate the
same to their parents. This sort of planning is very much necessary in striking a balanced
approach by the students and parents to address the sorts of gaps countered in the process (Giles,
Paris, & Whale, 2016). Besides the teachers need to be open to sorts of strategies to witness how
the students react to the changes in scenarios and its impression on their creative intent.

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Figure 7: Template for art lessons in schools
Source: (Costantino, 2015)
Acting:
The intentional teaching practise on the light of the ELYF model has been phenomenal as
education through sorts of art form got right support from the students and their parents as well.
The students participated in the process wholeheartedly and felt solace in having a right scope to
express their thoughts through various art forms. This sort of learning process never happened to
be a strict process for the children rather it provided for a fun oriented scope to enhance their
learning prowess (Naughton, Biesta, & Cole, 2017). Art education in early childhood apparently

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went well with the ELYF model as it provided for a comfortable atmosphere for the students
wherein they could exercise their liberty through art form. It definitely helped in developing an
innovative attitude enabling them to take crucial decisions develop their mental ability which
bears acute impression as they grow up (Stichter, Clarke, & Dunlap, 2004). Students
participating art classes are found to be more interactive, confident and motivated which plays a
crucial role in establishing them in life.
Reflection:
The paper strives to show the significance of various art form in a wholesome development of
the child right from his early childhood phase aged 0-5 years. So parents need to send their wards
to art school as it would develop a sense of discipline, a notion for experimentation and critical
thinking skill from a very tender age. It is often seen that art educations are ignored by the
schools and the educational institutions as well strive to give due stress on numerical and reading
abilities over other forms of learning. But studies as conducted by the Americans for Arts that art
education happens to motivate the students and instil in them a confidence to try out new sort of
experiment and thinks giving birth to their inquisitiveness. This phenomenon definitely gives rise
to the aspect of innovative and creative bent of mind as they grow and prosper in life. But art
education meanwhile provide them with a proper base to dictate life in their own terms.

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References
Caiman, C., & Jakobson, B. (2019). The Role of Art Practice in Elementary School Science.
Science & Education, 1-23.
Carter, T., Morres, I., Repper, J., & Callaghan, P. (2016). Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health
Nursing. ‘Exercise for adolescents with depression: valued aspects and perceived
change’, 23(1), 37–44.
Chalmers, F. (2019). Art education as global education. In Art, Culture, and Pedagogy (pp. 29-
36). Sydney: Brill Sense.
Costantino, T. (2015). Lessons from art and design education: The role of in-process critique in
the creative inquiry process. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9(2), 118.
Ford, M. (2013). Achievement gaps in Australia: What NAPLAN reveals about education
inequality in Australia. Race Ethnicity and Education, 80-102.
Giles, M., Paris, L., & Whale, J. (2016). The role of art education in adult prisons: The Western
Australian experience. International Review of Education, 62(6), 689-709.
Kolstad, H. (2017). Role of Art, Religion and Morality in Higher Education. RoSE–Research on
Steiner Education, 72-79.
Naughton, C., Biesta, G., & Cole, D. e. (2017). Art, artists and pedagogy: Philosophy and the
arts in education. London: Routledge.
Sams, C. (2016). How do art and design technicians conceive of their role in higher education?
Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, 1(2), 62-69.
Stichter, J., Clarke, S., & Dunlap, G. (2004). “An Analysis of Trends Regarding Proactive and
Ecologically Valid Interpretations in Applied Research”. Education and Treatment of
Children, 27(2), 86-104.
Thompson, G., & Harbaugh, A. G. (2013). A preliminary analysis of teacher perceptions of the
effects of NAPLAN on pedagogy and curriculum. The Australian Educational
Researcher, 299-314.

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Timmerman, B., Sen, S., & Hum, M. (2018). ART EDUCATION IN THE ERA OF
DISRUPTION: Convergence of Knowledge and Concept of Education as a Journey.
JURNAL TEROB, 10(2), 1-13.
UNESCO. (2019, March 09). Early childhood care and education. Retrieved from UNESCO:
https://en.unesco.org/themes/early-childhood-care-and-education
UNICEF. (2019, March 09). Early Childhood Care and Education Programmes. Retrieved from
UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/earlychildhood/index_69850.html