Play and the Arts: Shifting Alliances Literature Review 2022

Running head: PLAY AND THE ARTS: SHIFTING ALLIANCES
PLAY AND THE ARTS: SHIFTING ALLIANCES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
Sir Ken Robinson, back in his 2007 TED talk mentioned “we don’t grow into
creativity but rather we are educated out of it”. In a current educational and curriculum
context, this statement holds true (TED, 2007, Jan 6). The Australian Early Years Learning
Framework (EYLF) is designed keeping in mind the children from birth to five years of age.
The framework sets high expectations from an early educational context and outlines five
distinct outcomes (Council of Australian Governments, 2009):
 Children have a strong sense of identity
 Children are connected with and contribute to their world
 Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
 Children are confident and involved learners
 Children are effective communicators.
Therefrom, the framework narrows down its vision to a more inclusive and concise
viewpoint regarding children’s learning, highlighting the importance of play in an educational
context. Play in an educational system is not just identified as a form of recreation or recess,
but rather as an alternate medium for expression and educational development. The term Play
Pedagogy also refers to the incorporation of play based activities in an early educational
context (Nilsson, 2009).
In the talk, Sir Ken Robinson also speaks of a hierarchy that is followed in global
education where arts come at last with the lower significance being given to forms like dance
and drama (TED, 2007, Jan 6). In this context, the Western Australian (WA) curriculum
identifies a few major forms of art under the aspect of creativity, namely dance, drama, media
arts, music and visual arts. The discussion does not stop here, as there have been nearly
countless research and studies on early childhood education and the significance of creativity
in it (Dinham & Chalk, 2018). In this paper, the significance of creativity in an Australian

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early educational context has been identified from multiple scholarly articles, journals,
curriculum frameworks and reports. The objective of this paper is to highlight how the nature
of play has shifted over time and how aspects of cultural belonging and cultural competence
is developed with the help of arts.
Literature Review
Current global curricula is rife with examples of highlight on the sciences and
mathematics as well as the humanities. In the current educational scenario, creativity has all
but been obliterated, yet the importance of creativity and play is not completely undermined.
Roskos in his book “Play and literacy in early childhood” highlights that play in an early
educational context is of immense importance as it “supplies the brain with what it needs to
grow: exploring, testing ideas and skills, combining materials and actions, repeating actions
to automaticity, inventing and pretending” (2017, p. x). The nature of play has been viewed
through multiple lenses over time; while in some contexts, parents do not visualise play as an
effective form of academic growth and development, in a recent educational environment,
play is seen as an effective resource to support a holistic development. Swedish scholar
Gunilla Lindqvist in her approaches to play pedagogy has referred to Vygotsky’s theory of
the zone of proximal development as being developed through play as a zone where children
are found to use their highest possible cognitive activity (Nilsson, 2009). There are three
main forms of art namely dance, drama and media arts that are considered the highlights of
this paper as the three factors significantly influencing the development of play in early
education.
Limb movements are identified as one of the most visible determinants of
communication and expression, which is why the art form of dance holds a higher standard
among the performing arts. Dinham and Chalk assert in their book that movement and
dancing should be a routine part of early childhood (2018, p. 144). They also state that

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movement in itself has character and are capable of communicating information and ideas
(Dinham & Chalk, 2018, p. 150). Besides, from an educational viewpoint the opportunities
for using the bodily movements also provide the children with an access point to ‘embodied
expression’ of their identity, feelings and thoughts (Dinham & Chalk, 2018, p. 150). The
Western Australian curriculum has also highlighted certain key developments as outcomes of
the knowledge and skills of dance. They include confidence building in order to develop
creativity and communicate meanings, developing aesthetic and artistic cultural acceptance
and appreciation, as well as develop respect and knowledge about the variety of traditions
and cultures along with their histories and purposes regarding dance ("k10outline - Western
Australian Curriculum", 2014).
Similar to dance, drama has also been identified as an educational prospect which puts
the benefit of participants on a higher pedestal rather than the entertainment of audiences
(Dinham & Chalk, 2018. p. 169). The key underpinnings of drama are storytelling, character
exploration, role interpretation and understanding, decrypting feelings along with causes,
consequences as well as narrative structure and relationships in society (Dinham & Chalk,
2018. p. 169). The significance of drama in the lives of people have been identified and
highlighted multiple times. In fact, even in children, drama has always been subconsciously
present in the form of the play pretend games as a natural and instinctive behavioural trait
(Dinham & Chalk, 2018. p. 169), making it easier for educators to support and enhance this
attribute of theirs. Wee (2009) advocates for a proper implementation of a systematic drama
practice and development session in an early childhood setting as, according to the author’s
report, in an early childhood environment where the aspect of drama in classrooms is
addressed in a systematic and well defined manner, the children show exceptional
development in their kinaesthetic engagement, representation and expressiveness. Prendiville
and Toye (2013), in their book, speak of a systematic progression in the inclusion and

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deployment of drama in an early childhood educational setting where a general progression
from teacher directed role plays to more complex full story plays and traditional story based
dramatizations, have been identified to significantly help in a steady and well directed growth
of a child’s personality and character development. In an educational and more specifically
an early developmental context, it has also been argued that drama can be a very significant
tool for development for children in the age group of 3 – 8 years, contributing to every aspect
of early learning and development while at the same time developing and expanding a love
and excitement for learning and school (Brown, 2017; Dunn, 2016). Furthermore, Warren
(2017) also approaches the developmental benefits of drama in a more social context where
the use of drama helps the elders of a society connect with each other maturely, and while the
process starts actively involving their kids, the transfer of power and socio-cultural identity
shows remarkable prominence. The WA curriculum highlights the positive impacts of drama
through certain set outcomes which include development of confidence and self-awareness to
explore, take risks, identify and celebrate the human experience ("k10outline - Western
Australian Curriculum", 2014).
Media arts as a play based educational resource has been instrumental in developing
certain technological competencies of children. It not only teaches the children about the
various types and implementation of media technologies present, but also enhances the ability
of storytelling in children by elaborating the wide array of media art elements like technical
and symbolic codes as well as forms of multimodal communication (Dinham & Chalk, 2018,
pp. 199-203). The ability and skill of storytelling has been identified as a key outcome of the
media arts aspect of early childhood education (Christensen, 2014). As identified in the WA
curriculum ("k10outline - Western Australian Curriculum", 2014), the set outcomes of media
arts inclusion in early childhood curriculum are inclusive of development of confidence of

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participation, aesthetic knowledge clubbed with creative and critical thinking skills and
awareness of media cultures.
Play can incorporate the values and significance of dance, drama and media arts as
providers and developers of high cultural identity and competence. Contemporary research
has indicated that there is a highly positive correlation between drama and certain key aspects
of personal development like comprehensibility and cognitive development, language use,
critical thinking ability and social skills (Brouilette, 2010) and the longer the exposure is
provided, the better the development happens (Catterall, 2009). Similar connections have also
been established for dance as well as for media. Hanna advocates the idea that since we
anyway use our body movements for a multitude of expressions in our daily lives, it would be
an effective life skill if the body language is well connected to our consciousness and its
potentials, adequately explored (Hanna, 2015) thereby indicating that dance can have a strong
connection with the aspect of play. Even with media arts, play can share a connection in an
earlyt developmental context. Just like play allows for the children to explore the
environment, create interpersonal bonding and develop an overall personality and psyche,
Prowse (2011) states that media arts also allows for the children to experience similar
development by putting them in a more technologically sound environment where
communication and skill development is highlighted though fun activities and practices.
Implementation and usability
The identification of the aforementioned aspects, theories, significances, benefits and
outcomes can help teachers develop a sound classroom system wherefrom the children can be
able to expand their knowledge, understanding as well as their identity and awareness of
cultural belonging. Through the implementation of proper play based setups in an early
educational context and setting, educators and teachers can also help the students explore the
inner creative side of themselves which in turn will help them develop their cultural

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competence (Dinham & Chalk, 2018). The first step in developing an effective play based
classroom learning setup would be to identify that the importance of an ethical and all
inclusive socio-cultural learning environment, followed by the designing of an effective
learning environment that would be engaging but safe as well as aesthetic in nature (Dinham
& Chalk, 2018, Pp 342-346). Moreover, it has also been significantly highlighted that the
design and implementation should not be arbitrary and random but should follow certain
strict guidelines set by the EYLF (Council of Australian Governments, 2009). The EYLF
structure provides specific directions as well as aid toolkits (Dinham & Chalk, 2018, pp. 388-
404) that can be used by educators and early education teachers for their benefit.
Secondly, the teachers should also prioritize identifying the EYLF highlighted
curriculum dimensions namely those of learning areas, general capabilities and cross
curriculum priorities (Dinham & Chalk, 2018, p. 388). Thirdly, the EYLF highlights three
different ways of planning for a lesson namely observation based planning (Dinham & Chalk,
2018, p. 389), planning for curriculum-based purposeful play: arts learning (Dinham &
Chalk, 2018, p. 392) and Arts Curriculum based planning (Dinham & Chalk, 2018, p. 397).
Among them, the second curriculum plan, provides a detailed outline for the teachers to
understand what to do and how to approach a play based arts curriculum. Minor tweaking in
the guideline for specific activities pertaining to dance, drama and media arts can allow for a
wholesome development of the students thereby enabling the fostering of cultural identity
and competence developments in the children.
A specific instance from the various ways of implementation can be portrayed in the
designing of an early education dance classroom setting. The classroom should be big and
spacious and be made child friendly with painted walls, colourful decorations, ambient
lighting, some minor furniture along with preferably some potted plants to increase the
aesthetic appeal, thus taking care of the design aspect. From the aspect of content, there

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should be a rich, but properly curated selection of music that not only enhances the process
experience but also enriches the cultural and emotional mentality of the child, incorporating
in them a wider view of their surroundings and developing their cultural and cognitive
competence. From the social viewpoint, the classroom should be all inclusive with special
care taken for the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders (Deotto & Atkinson, 2018) as well
as children with special needs. Finally, the prospect of performance for all should be
elaborately developed and encouraged for fostering the ability and confidence to identify and
deliver to the audience.
Conslusion
In summary, the paper has attempted to highlight the benefits and significance of
performing arts in particular and creative incorporations in general in an Australian early
educational setting where, the vision and mission has been to encourage and finger hold the
process of a cognitive and cultural development in all children through a medium outside of
traditional education. Through reference to a lot of publications as well as some aid from
EYL and WA frameworks, the prospect of inclusion of arts in a play based early childhood
curricula has been put forth, while at the same time being backed by the resources, the
projection of an exemplary setup has also been demonstrated in a setting where all-inclusive
development is highlighted as the main focus. It is hoped that through proper segmentation
and understanding of performing arts and their impact on the lives and education of children
in an early childhood setting, a holistic and inclusive curricular setup can be generated that
would be implemented on a large scale basis across all concerned institutions, yet be flexible
enough to accommodate the specific requirements, needs, desires and characteristic
alignments of all children.

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References
Brouillette, L. (2010). How the arts help children to create healthy social scripts: Exploring
the perceptions of elementary teachers. Arts Education Policy Review, 111(1), 16–24.
Brown, V. (2017). Drama as a valuable learning medium in early childhood. Arts Education
Policy Review, 118(3), 164-171.
Catterall, J. S. (2009). Doing well and doing good by doing art: A 12-year national study of
education in the visual and performing arts: Effects on the achievements and values
of young adults. Imagination Group/I-Group Books.
Christensen, J. (2014). The power of storytelling. Educating Young Children: Learning and
Teaching in the Early Childhood Years, 20(3), 9.
Council of Australian Governments. (2009). Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years
Learning Framework for Australia.
Deotto, J., & Atkinson, G. (2018). Ensuring real progress for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander children. Every Child, 24(4), 20.
Dinham, J., & Chalk, B. (2018). It's arts play: Young children belonging, being and
becoming through the arts. Oxford University Press.
Dunn, J. (2016). Demystifying process drama: exploring the why, what, and how. NJ, 40(2),
127-140.
Hanna, J._L. (2015). Dancing to Learn:__e Brain’s Cognition, Emotion and Movement.
London:_Rowman and Little_eld.
Nilsson, M. E. (2009). Creative pedagogy of play—The work of Gunilla Lindqvist. Mind,
Culture, and Activity, 17(1), 14-22.
Prendiville, F., & Toye, N. (2013). Drama and traditional story for the early years.
Routledge.

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Roskos, K. A. (Ed.). (2017). Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple
perspectives. Routledge.
TED. (2007, Jan 6). Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
Warren, K. (2017). Empowering children through drama. In Issues in Expressive Arts
Curriculum for Early Childhood (pp. 83-97). Routledge.
Wee, S. J. (2009). A case study of drama education curriculum for young children in early
childhood programs. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 23(4), 489-501.
k10outline - Western Australian Curriculum. (2014). Retrieved 28 August 2019, from
https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/teaching/curriculum-browser
Prowse, S. (2011). How does media play and ICT fit in the early childhood context?.
In Children, meaning-making and the arts (pp. 135-157). Pearson Australia.