There is nothing more boring than sitting in a class where the teacher drones on in a monotonous voice, and all you have on the handout in front of you is black text on a white piece of paper. This is the same for children. They learn much better in an environment that stimulates their brain and encourages creativity. A great way to do this is by using art in teaching. Not only do we mean art classes, but by having other artistic components in learning things like numbers and words.
Additionally, art is a good outlet for children to express their thoughts and ideas, since they are often not able to cohesively structure these in words when they are younger. As they use art materials, draw, paint and make collages, they learn about the world around them and what things are made out of. Art can be used to teach important principles like problem solving, planning and decision making.
At Providence Children’s Academy, we believe that art is a fundamental part of teaching children new things. We have included art into our pre-K curriculum – we believe that art can make learning fun for children, and here are some of the reasons why:
Creativity
Firstly, art allows children to express themselves – children process the world around them and express what they interpret. Additionally, in art, there is no right or wrong. It helps to encourage children to make their own decisions and to think uniquely. These are all skills that can help them think outside the box later on in life.
Visual Arts
The visual arts are one of the easiest things that can be implemented in the learning environment to make it more fun and stimulating for children. The use of color, shapes and lines stimulates learning in children. For example, making children color in shapes, or cut out shapes from color paper can help them learn shapes better than if it was just black and white.
Additionally, visual arts can encourage children to express their ideas and feelings in drawings that they would otherwise not be able to express due to limited vocabulary. This can be implemented but giving children a topic such a “a beautiful day” and asking them to draw or paint what their version of a beautiful day entails.
Drama
Drama and role playing are a great way to help children memorize things. To help them better understand concepts, stories or characters, getting children to act it out or do role play is a great way to express themselves and their emotions. This is also a good team building exercise, as it teaches children to work together in order to make skits and plays.
Music, Song & Performance
Perhaps the most obvious and effective use of music and song in learning during the pre-K period is the alphabet song. Many of us can still remember the song that was taught to us when learning the alphabet. This is a prime example of how music and song can be used in enhancing the learning of children. Nursery rhymes combine both music and rhyming sounds to tell a story and stimulates young children’s brains by developing their phonemic awareness, listening skills and memory and articulation. It is also a great way for them to learn new vocabulary.
At Providences Children’s Academy, we believe in programs that help develop the whole child. Our VPK program is perfect for toddlers from age 4 and we offer a program that is not only rich in improving literacy, but using various artistic components, we enhance your children’s development. If you are interested in find out more about our VPK program, contact us on 954-570-6914 today!