Integrating the Arts in Early Education 

ChildRoots provides children with a progressive learning community where they can grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially. The ChildRoots Way establishes guidelines for all aspects of our program from the curriculum to our nutrition program. A fundamental tenant of the ChildRoots Way is the integration of art in education. Whereas many traditional, programmatic curriculum relegates art as an extracurricular activity, our curriculum uses the arts as a focal point of our project-based approach. Using the arts in our early-education curriculum provides our students with several benefits that foster academic, socio-emotional, and physical development. 

At its core, the integration of arts in early education curriculum allows children to develop advanced methods of problem-solving. As part of the ChildRoots curriculum, the arts and sciences combine in our project-based approach. Dr. Kathy Morrison writes in a 2012 article that this integration is a natural one. She writes that children naturally participate in scientific and artistic ways of thought and behavior. On the scientific side, they are naturally curious about their surroundings, from snowflakes to airplanes. On the other side, they participate in the arts through playing, drawing, singing, and other activities. In an early childhood curriculum, art-based activities can teach children the basic skills involved in the scientific process like observation, communication, and organization. For example, children can be asked to observe and describe what happens when colors mix during a painting project.

The introduction of the arts in early education has a significant impact on children’s socio-emotional development. A study commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts examined dozens of empirical studies between 2000-2015 and found several commonalities amongst the results. The review’s first common finding was that musical activities promoted positive social behaviors in young children. These include helping, caring, and sharing with their classmates. A similar finding of positive social development was associated with dance classes.

The second impact the study found was that arts participation helped children learn to better understand and regulate their emotions. The review highlighted a study in which toddlers who participated in a daily visual arts program saw improvements in positive and negative emotion regulation versus a control group. Music activities were shown to associate with more use of expressive emotions by children.

The third area where art has a positive impact during early childhood is the development of fine motor skills. The physical aspects of making art help children learn different skills they will need as they progress through their educational lives. For example, the act of holding a paintbrush, marker, or crayon develops the dexterity needed to learn how to write.

At each of our Portland early learning centers, our full-time, on-site art studio teacher offers time and materials for creative exploration. This comes in the form of an open art studio or long-term, group-based projects where the art teacher and students collaborate. The process, not the finished work, is the focus of the arts section of our curriculum.

To learn more about how the arts play a role in our curriculum contact us today!