The Importance Of Visual Arts

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Visual arts refers to visual and tactile art, print and craft media, self-expression, analysis and interpretation (Edwards, 2010). Teachers play an important role in enhancing children’s creativity and supporting visual arts in the classroom. Children’s artistic development can be fostered by making environments effective. Teachers are designers in this situation as they need to make practical and supportive environments for the children to engage in visual arts activities. The arrangement of the classroom furniture and use of materials should be adaptable to accommodate the needs of different activities (Wright, 2003). Teachers are provisioners as they provide a variety of resources for children to use which includes papers of different …show more content…

Firstly, children’s cognitive development is greatly enhanced through visual arts. In order for children to produce art, they have to think of an idea, an experience or feeling and construct symbols to express what they know (Isbell & Raines, 2007). Exploration of art materials help children build a knowledge of their physical properties which supports decision-making, evaluation and problem-solving (Edwards, 2010). Moreover, children will have many opportunities to work together in small groups and will then learn to value others’ ideas (Isbell & Exelby, 2001). Since visual arts is a form of self-expression, children can express their feelings through artworks and hence, learn emotional regulation. Small muscle development occurs when children cut, paste, draw and paint while large muscles develop through activities such as creating a large mural (Isbell & Raines, 2007). Therefore, visual arts enhances children’s development in all …show more content…

In early childhood, teachers guide children’s artistic learning, which is then supported by peers (Wright, 2003). This is known as the guided approach. In this approach, teachers reflect, explore and plan together possible way to extend children’s artistic knowledge and skills. Furthermore, activities are deliberately open-ended to foster divergent thinking and support the process instead of the product (Mills, 2014). Teaching creative arts provides children a mode of communication and a medium for representing the world (Wright, 2003). Since children learn through play, creative arts is a platform for children to interact socially, explore emotions and develop motor skills (Mills,

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