Rationale:

Expressive arts and design involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. It also provides opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art and design, music and drama. Children’s engagement in expressive arts and design leads them to use all their senses to explore in real hands-on activities and then to put the information together in their own minds to form ideas and make sense of their world.

‘By encouraging creativity and imagination, we are promoting children’s ability to explore and understand their world and increase their opportunities to make new connections and reach new understandings.’ Bernadette Duffy

“Creativity is present ... whenever a person imagines, combines, alters and creates something new, no matter how small” Vygotsky

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity and supports them to identify with their culture.

Aim:

We provide an enabling environment that supports development of creativity and reflects the cultural heritage, differing abilities and diversity of our children. In this we include our staff, families and the wider community

We teach art, music and drama lessons so that children can develop their creativity.

This helps to increase a child’s:

• Confidence
• Engagement
• Emotional regulation
• Social skills and collaboration
• Wellbeing and energy
• Enjoyment in the process of learning and exploring
• Discovery of things that are meaningful and enjoyable
• Self-expression and imagination
• Ability to explore different ways of doing something and see a range of possibilities
• Problem-solving skills and ability to make connections
• Ability to create their own view of the world

The continuous provision we offer includes: dressing up, use of mirrors, role-play areas, small world, puppets, art and craft resources, instruments, mark making activities, use of well-known nursery rhymes and songs.

In addition to setting up an enabling creative environment, we promote:

• independent exploration by supporting children to explore their ideas freely
• the process rather than a product by focusing on the journey and skills children are learning rather than the end outcome.
• children to be creative in their own time, by offering opportunities to play over extended periods.