Implementing Arts in Early Childhood Education: A Scholarly Analysis

This essay provides a scholarly analysis of arts implementation in early childhood education, addressing how children experience arts in home and community settings, and how early childhood programs foster these experiences. It delves into diverse pedagogical and theoretical approaches, including the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), to promote authentic arts education. The essay emphasizes the importance of family involvement and explores various strategies like music, drama, and visual arts to enhance children's creativity, cognitive development, and social-emotional skills. It references relevant literature, curriculums, and theories to support its discussion, highlighting the benefits of arts education in developing children's holistic abilities and preparing them for future success. The essay uses the provided references to support its claims and is structured to meet the assignment's criteria, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of arts education in early childhood.

Running head: IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
Implementation of arts in early childhood
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors note:

1IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
“Art is the expression of an enormous preference” (Shin, 2017). Art is an experience
that every person witnesses in his or her everyday life. Art is not only the product of an artist
rather it involves both the artist as well as the observer. It is the interest of the observer,
which encourages an artsist. Arts has a great impact on a child. The inclusion of arts in the
curriculum improves the creativity of the child. Art has helped in developing the child’s fine
motor skills, grasping of pencil, crayons, and chalks. The fine motor skill helps in the child's
writing, buttoning of the coat as well as tasks required for the controlling of the movement.
Art is the expression of the human imagination in the form of visual. Through art, the
creativity of a person is enhanced. Art can be in any form such as paintings, storytelling,
prose, poems as well as comics. In the recognition of the creativity of the child, the family
members and the teachers play a vital role. With the introduction of art, several changes can
be observed in the life of the child. According to Morehouse (2013), students who are
exposed to art are four times more likely to win an academic award, eight times more likely
to receive a community award there is a detailed explanation of the importance of music in
the life of the child and how it helps in the betterment of the kid in their future life
(Morehouse, 2013).
In the words of Pablo Picasso, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain
an artist once we grow up” (Eisner, 2017). In the words of Kim (2017), children easily grasp
things from the environment and try to use them in their everyday life. Art has a different
representation in their life and the introduction of art in early childhood helps in the
enhancement of creative skills. It has been found by researchers that the introduction of
music in early childhood helps the child develop his four C's- critical thinking, creative
thinking, collaboration and communication that helps the child to develop their skills and
make them future-ready. Education must introduce sample lyrics that are created by authors
and incorporate it with rhythm, the musical ideas are being enhanced in the classroom (Kim,

2IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
2017). Often schools develop music classes wherein the students are asked to develop their
lyrics and compose the song. There has been seen great development in the students who
have been encouraged to arts. Teachers must find out ways where they can introduce music in
the classroom to enhance their four C’s. Several authors explain that children in their free
time should play music or with instruments for creating music of their own. Allowing
children to play with instruments and music helps them in creating their music. It reinvents
their world, parents, and teachers must encourage a child's participation in music. The parents
play a vital role in the encouraging of art in a child's life (Williams, 2016). Often some
parents assume that art may distract the child from his / her studies, as a result, they do not
allow the child to peruse art or music letting the creativity level of the child deplete. An
increase in the pictures or portrays in their home and school encourages creativity. The parent
must try to find out where the child is creative and where they are more interested as the
parents are the one who spends the majority of the time with the child from birth to the age of
three.
Implementation of arts in their activities such as dance, music, drama or visual has an
impact on the development of the child in fostering the child's holistic development,
cultivating their artistic abilities as well as their knowledge. As Shulsky & Kirkwood (2015)
mentioned art education is the prime way of promoting the growth of infants, toddlers, and
young children's holistic development. Art education should be a part of relaxation,
excitement and must be enjoyed by kids. It encourages learning wherein the child is unable to
understand their artistic opportunities. There is a great impact on the visual art that the child
experiences in the growing years. Learning symbols develop their knowledge. The toddlers
develop their fine motor skills along with their cognitive thinking as well as expression, with
visual art. Scribbling has an impact on toddlers and infants. Toddlers have a cognitive

3IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
connection while infants experience sensory that develops their physical skills in the process
of scribbling.
Intuition, spontaneity, happenstance, instinct are the qualities that are being valued by
the artists. Every art is intentional and not incidental, hence it can be said that every art is
prepared for a reason, which is an expression of the artist. It has been observed that children
with artistic parents have a higher exposure to art and write better than their peers. Art is a
delightful way of recording the growth of a child. To make choices as well as solve their
problems children must be allowed to create art. As every step helps in decision-making; like
the color that they need to use and so on. It has been found that students who are exposed to
art are four times more likely to win an academic award, eight times more likely to receive a
community award (Cremin et al., 2015). This is a clear indication that the students exposed to
art have more chances to improve in education as well as in the communal field. Art
increases the interest of the student enabling them to enjoy their school, participate in
mathematics or science exhibition as mentioned by Meiners (2005).
Incorporating art into the lifestyle of the child, parents, and teachers can read to the
children dramatic books. They can act out the story using props or costumes; this helps the
child increase their creativity and intelligence as well (Brown, 2017). Parents can save old
Halloween clothes and ask the child to dress up in their favorite fictional character. The
parents can put together an "art studio" in their home. The child should be provided with
tools and materials that help to increase their creativity like crayons, markers, finger paints,
watercolors.
Art has various benefits that a child enjoys for their lifetime. Incorporating arts in
their daily life helps in the development of the skills of the child while growing. Arts help in
the development of the child's motor skills that include writing letters and words, playing

4IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
instruments, painting with brushes, shaping models made with clay. It also helps in the
development of the numeric skills of the child (Wright, 2012).
Authors like Robertson, Yim & Paatsch (2018), focuses that arts increase the
acceleration of brain development. It helps in handling stress and increases the child's self-
esteem. Experiencing arts in the first five years of life is crucial in developing social skills,
cognitive skills, thinking skills, personality, and decision-making. Moreover, there is also a
development notice in children who are exposed to arts is movement skills. Children witness
physical development, social development, cognitive development, emotional, imaginational
and experimental development when arts are introduced in the early stage of life.
The EYLF or Early Year Learning Framework is the first framework that has been
developed in Australia for childhood education. It has been developed for young children's
education and the outcome that provides a goal for young children. It has been developed for
National equality standards (White & Fleer, 2019). The Early Year Learning Framework has
various purposes. The Early Year Learning Framework has been developed to extend and
enrich children’s learning from birth to five years of age. It enables the educator to provide
the children with opportunities for maximum learning. It also provides fundamental learning
for future success in learning. Childhood is an essential period of learning, thus, Early Year
Learning Framework provides quality teaching (Grieshaber & Graham, 2017). Learning
through playing is the motive that Early Year Learning Framework serves. It focuses on the
communication and language of the child. Social and emotional development is also a part of
learning for children. It has been developed for the working partners of children like family
and educators.
In the Early Year Learning Framework children develop confidence as well as involve
learning, they act as effective communicators; they also develop a strong sense of well-being.
The Early Year Learning Framework has been introduced for the betterment of the child and

5IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
to have equity among the students. The introduction of the Early Year Learning Framework
has shown an increase in the development of the children creatively as well as healthy mental
growth is also observed.
Arts help in the increase in the creativity of the child with which the child can develop
ideas and stories helping a better understanding of the literature (Brown, Victoria, 2017).
Various pedagogical approaches make education easier to grasp and learn for the children.
often children are not interested in studies, thus, animated videoes of the stories and poems
help the child to understand the chapter and also helps in remembering it for a long period.
Using different ways of making the child learn and understand through playing increases the
mental health of the child making the child develop physically as well as cognitive skills.
As Oscar Wilde said, “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the
world has ever known.” Arts are the pillars of the creativity of a child. Arts help in the
development of the child's creativity and helps in the communication and interaction of the
child. There have been various steps taken by the educator for the development of the
curriculum. The teacher, as well as the parents, play a vital role in the development of the
child's creativity. The four C's are the major part of the development of the child and their
creativity. The introduction of arts in early childhood helps the child for a better future and in
the development of the future. A child starts to witness creativity from the time of its birth.
Arts can be of any form, it can be music or painting. The inclusion of colors and shapes and
sizes help in the development of the child's creativity. Arts have a great influence on a child's
life. The major skills of the child’s life are developed in the early years of the child. They
develop their skills in communication, motor skills, language skills, cognitive skills, and
maths skills in their early life. A teacher or parents help various ways in the development of
the creativity of the child. Thus, a teacher must find innovative ways to increase their
creativity.

6IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

7IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
Reference list
Brown, Victoria. (2017). Drama as a valuable learning medium in Early Childhood. Arts
Education Policy Review, 118(3), 164-171.
Cremin, T., Glauert, E., Craft, A., Compton, A., & Stylianidou, F. (2015). Creative Little
Scientists: exploring pedagogical synergies between inquiry-based and creative
approaches in Early Years science. Education 3-13, 43(4), 404-419.
Eisner, C. (2017). Collagegrids: thinking it through, a practice-led investigation into artistic
cognition (Doctoral dissertation, University of Lincoln).
Grieshaber, S., & Graham, L. J. (2017). Equity and educators enacting the Australian early
years learning framework. Critical Studies in Education, 58(1), 89-103.
Kim, J. (2017). Transforming music education for the next generation: Planting ‘Four Cs’
through children’s songs. International Journal
Meiners, Jeff. (2005). In the Beginning: Young Children and Arts Education. International
Journal of Early Childhood, 37(2), 37-44.
Morehouse, P. G. (2013). The importance of music-making in child development. YC Young
Children, 68(4), 82-87.
Robertson, N., Yim, B., & Paatsch, L. (2018). Connections between children’s involvement
in dramatic play and the quality of early childhood environments. Early Child
Development and Care.(0), 1-14.
Shin, K. (2017). The Work of Modern British Art in the Age of Colour Reproduction:
Wyndham Lewis and CRW Nevinson in Colour, 1914-1921. The Journal of
Wyndham Lewis Studies, 8, 57-165.
Shulsky, D., & Kirkwood, D. (2015). Beyond tempera paint: Authentically exploring visual
art in early childhood. Childhood Education, 91(5), 363-369.

8IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
White, A. D., & Fleer, M. (2019). Early childhood educators’ perceptions of the Australian
Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF): Engaged professional learners. Australasian
Journal of Early Childhood, 1836939119832083.
Williams, Kate E. (2016). Rhythm and movement could help children self-regulate. Every
Child, 22(4), 8-9.
Williams, Kate E. (2018). Moving to the beat: Using music, rhythm, and movement to
enhance self-regulation in early childhood classrooms. International Journal of Early
Childhood, 50(1),85-100.
Wright, S. (2012). Children, meaning making and the arts
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