Art and Creativity in Early Childhood. Literature & Language Essay

Art and Creativity in Early Childhood
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Art and Creativity in Early Childhood
Creativity causes children to explore new activities. It is a continuous process that arouses curiosity and helps young children to engage in artistic pursuits such as sports, music, and literature. Parents and teachers need to create a conducive environment that nurtures creativity by encouraging the open and free expression of young children. Creativity entails qualities such as self-motivation, passion, and hard work. This paper examines the positive effects of creativity in young children. Then, it looks at the ways to use technology to promote creativity in their lives. Lastly, it describes community resources that families can use.
Part 1: Positive effects of Art and Creativity
Cognition
Arts help young children develop stronger numeracy skills. They make them familiar with basic mathematical concepts such as counting. For example, working with collage materials introduces young children to basic counting. Also, musical elements such as melody, tempo, and rhythm make them familiar with patterning, sequencing, and counting. Arts have a positive effect on brain development. It boosts children's memory, language, and problem-solving skills—for example, visual arts and music aid young children in developing their short-term memory and language-based reasoning. Arts benefit young children's observation skills. Creative art activities help children learn about different shapes and colors (Isbell & Raines, 2012). For example, when children look at the structure and design of trees and later draw and paint them on a paper, they boost their observation skills.
Physical
Arts aid young children in enhancing their motor skills. When their hands and fingers work with various objects and materials, they develop greater hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and flexibility. For example, clay modeling, finger painting, and playing instruments strengthen the children's hands, fingers, and wrist muscles. Arts has a positive impact on their sensory development. In young children, senses offer the best mechanism to interact with their environment since they have limited mobility and language abilities. So, artistic activities expose them to different textures, colors, temperatures, shapes, and sizes. These help young children to identify distinct colors, smells, materials, and sounds hence develop effective sensory responses. Creative arts also improve body expressions and movements. The activities involve moving, jumping, and running. These exercises create better body coordination, control, and balance (Isbell & Raines, 2012). For example, when young children participate in outdoor games or drama, they learn appropriate body expressions. They also improve their fitness and flexibility.
Socioemotional
Arts boost young children’s self-esteem. Children can freely express their imaginations and thoughts. This freedom encourages creativity, which gives them the belief to be independent. Further, when parents and teachers appreciate their efforts, they feel valued, which boosts their confidence. For example, when young children are commended after drawing, painting, or writing, they feel capable and m...