Exposing Children to Modern Arts in Early Years
How Exposing Children to Modern Arts in Early Years Supports Creative Expressions and Nurtures Entrepreneurial Mindset
Children are creative by nature and they respond to contemporary arts with a great enthusiasm. They can easily relate to modern arts because they are more focused on the process of creation rather than the final product. They understand that the outcome is very often a result of their inner journey which can take them to unexpected places.
Introducing young children to contemporary arts is a very effective method of fostering their creativity, supporting their social-emotional development, and even boosting their entrepreneurial spirit.
Benefits of Exposing early years Children to Contemporary Arts
Inspiring Creative Expression
Children enjoy being exposed to contemporary arts and they get inspired with the things they see or experience around them very easily. And they like to explore their own creativity and engage themselves in the creative process immediately. Whether it’s an art exhibition, a visit to a nearby museum, or a project they can see in photographs or videos, children usually like to explore methods, techniques, materials or resources used by the artists.
This way children take responsibility for their own learning and development - through planning suitable experiences for themselves and choosing approaches that seem the most inspiring to them. They develop awareness of what they want and need, and how to get there. By participating in the activities they have planned for themselves, children will often decide to take manageable risks, which in turn will help them stretch their skills and boost their confidence.
Educators should respond to children’s cues by offering the resources they need, and planning play and learning environments in a way that all children can explore their creativity freely.
Boosting 'Can-Do’ Spirit
Contemporary arts may be surprising, or even shocking, especially when it looks like it doesn’t require much artistic skills or mastery in any special techniques. Children will easily notice this and very often find similarities between what they see on exhibitions and their own creations. This is a perfect confidence booster and if supported by educators correctly, it will help children develop positive self-esteem and the ‘can-do’ spirit. “If an artist becomes famous and admired by painting a single red dot on a big canvas, why can’t I?” - this is a sample conclusion that many children may arrive to after visiting a contemporary arts exhibition, and this is exactly what you want them to figure out. They should feel that they are already artists, no matter what kind of results they can achieve at the moment, and that one day, if they wished to pursue this path, their work could also be considered as a valuable masterpiece.
Contemporary arts is an excellent means to boosting children’s confidence and to helping them understand that everyone already is an artist who can produce masterpieces, and that there will always be someone who appreciates their creativity and finds it inspiring.
Nurturing Entrepreneurial Mindset
Showing children that it is possible to make money with their creations can open up a whole new world for them. While it may be more appealing to school pupils, many early years children will already know that they can exchange money for goods and that you can earn money for your work. To children modern arts seems a very easy entrepreneurial opportunity - they already feel that their work is very often similar in nature and in quality to those artists who sell their masterpieces. This very fact itself can be a sufficient confidence booster, and supporting this kind of attitude may help many children develop motivation to try and fulfil their potential, master their skills, and make use of their talents. Eventually such motivation can turn into dedication and a strong belief to pursue one’s own pathway in life.
Ways of Introducing your Children to Contemporary Arts in Early Years
Offering various ways of introducing your children to modern arts will help them experience different sides of it, and find the way they like best.
Museums, Art Exhibitions, and other Places of Inspiration
Taking your children to museums, indoor or outdoor art exhibitions offers a chance to experience arts seen as masterpieces worth attention. While exploring they can find out whether they feel similar about the things they see and experience. Such places usually have plenty of space to wander around, and the whole trip may seem more like a quest. In fact, you can turn it into a quest or a hunt, and ask your children to find the weirdest, the most beautiful, the scariest, or the ugliest pieces on display.
It is important to ask your children about their private opinion while working with contemporary arts - this way you show them that opinions can be subjective and people have the right to differ. And discussing their points of view about art exhibits makes them feel important and heard. It also shows them that the fact that one masterpiece has been considered beautiful does not mean everybody has to share the same view.
Whenever you take your children to an art exhibition skip the factual aspect of it and focus on their opinions, encourage discussions, and ask children for their own interpretation and understanding of what they see. This will stimulate their creativity even further, for example by turning into a creative story telling later on.
Loose Parts and Everyday Objects
Another great way to expose your children to modern arts is by introducing everyday objects. This will show children that creative ideas and designs can be turned into unique items that we use in our daily life. Perfect examples are IKEA products which due to their catchy colours, shapes and functions are generally very appealing to many children.
You can also introduce in your setting a dedicated section, a separate table or some unique space where you will regularly display various objects and loose parts to play with and from which your children can create freely. It doesn’t need to be a special session - just offering space and resources and plenty of time for children to take the lead will be enough to open the door to child-led and self-directed learning and creating through play.
Creating Own Masterpieces
Modern Arts exhibitions will always inspire your children to use their imagination and explore their creativity further. They will usually be so inspired after museum visits that they will most likely want to start working on their own projects immediately. You can support this process by offering safe space and resources, and by making sure there is no time limit or goal pressure.
Children may naturally wish to exhibit their creations, so you may want to organise a modern art exhibition on your premises. Another great idea is to prepare a set of treasure boxes filled with safe bric-a-brac and encourage your children to use them to create their own modern arts exhibits which can be later interpreted by the whole group.
A Magical Journey of Self-Discovery
Contemporary arts can be a great inspiration for your children to look for new ways of self-expression. As their educator, you need to approach it with flexibility and allow yourself to be taken on a magical journey by your children. They will show you what tools and contexts they need to create their own masterpieces, and they will most likely invite you to join them on the way. This will take you into the magical world of never-ending creations which, from your children’s perspective, might or might not have any special meaning or purpose. What makes this journey meaningful, however, is the fact that they can express themselves freely and by doing so learn more about themselves and the world around them.
To learn how to offer more child-led learning and play environments in your early years setting or school that will nurture your children’s creative expression, check the ACTIVE LEARNING BOOSTER programme by Natural Born Leaders. It’s a self-paced hands-on online training programme for Early Years Practitioners and Primary Teachers who are ready to offer Future-Oriented Education through the Active Experiential Holistic Learning approach!
Magdalena Matulewicz and Witold Matulewicz, Founders of Natural Born Leaders and authors of Active Learning Booster programme, have been working with this approach for over 20 years - both in early years and primary education. They have trained lots of childminding settings, play groups, day nurseries and schools where dedicated educators have successfully been using Active Experiential Holistic Learning on a daily basis.
ACTIVE LEARNING BOOSTER programme has been designed to make sure that as you participate in this training, all key components of learning are in place:
- knowledge and understanding
- practical application and on-site implementation
- evidence of your own learning journey
So when you complete this certified CPD programme in full, you will have strong evidence of the quality of your work, what you have learned and achieved, how your skills have evolved, what you have implemented and its quality.
You will become an empowered, self-reliant, and tool-independent Educator of the Future, and you will be able to offer Active Experiential Holistic Learning at the highest level!
Exclusive Discount for Morton Michel Policyholders!
Natural Born Leaders provides all Morton Michel policyholders a 25% discount to their ACTIVE LEARNING BOOSTER programme.
To redeem your exclusive discount, on the programme webpage choose a number of licences you would like to purchase, click on the Add to Basket button and apply the discount code MM25ALB to claim your 25% off. Click here for more information.
Please direct all of your questions regarding the Active Learning Booster to Witold from Natural Born Leaders at info@naturalbornleaders.org.
The information in this article is provided by Active Born Leaders and does not represent Morton Michel.