Elementary school students have developing minds that are open to exploration and creativity. It's a perfect time for them to gain exposure to the visual arts.
Activities such as drawing, molding, cutting, and coloring require children to engage their minds in coordination with their hands thus reinforcing several important developmental characteristics...
- Creativity
- Fine motor skills
- Perception of shape and spatial relationships
- Organization
Through Art Enrichment classes, in addition to learning artistic techniques, they develop many valuable soft skills....
- Perseverance
- Confidence in social situations
- Acceptance of critical feedback
- Direction following
- Task based interaction with others
- Pride of Accomplishment
Researchers at the Harvard School of Education's Project Zero concluded that "Students who study the arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgments and justify such judgments."*.
Although it would be a stretch to call elementary school after-school art enrichment classes "studying art seriously", they certainly are a means to introducing young students to the arts and increasing their chances of continuing art studies throughout their educational careers.
*Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. Hetland, Winner, et. al. Teachers College Press, 2007.