What is the creative curriculum program?
• “In early childhood, the creative arts curriculum typically includes music, movement, dramatic play, puppetry, and the visual arts-painting, sculpting, drawing, and use of other media. These activities invite children to invent, make discoveries, and explore ideas, objects, and materials. The creative arts allow children to experience the deep satisfaction that comes from making something new, and they support learning in all domains. This issue includes full-length articles, useful charts and checklists, and easy links to Web sites with pertinent information on encouraging young children to express themselves and learn through the creative arts.”
What centers should be included in the creative
curriculum? • Visual Arts
(crayons, chalk, collage, and paint)
• Music ( learning to sing, play with music, to move and listen)
• Drama (role-play, pretend, create characters or ideas)
Constructivist Theory• Children create knowledge
through interactions with the environment
• Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, Forman
Physical Social/emotional
Cognitive Other emphasis
Montessori Emphasis on f.m.
Focus on self-control
Emph. Indiv.; task choice
Respect for child work; teacher observers
Behaviorist Gives little attention
Self-esteem dev. As child gains cognitive competence
Lessons highly sequenced; focus on learning tasks
Controlled envir., emphasis on learning
Constructivist Focus on f.m. & g.m.
Social interactions crucial; peer learning/prob solving
Focus on skills needed at the time; teaching skills via projects
Knowledge constructed by learner; teacher is facilitator
* From class notes
What is developmentally appropriate practice for creative curriculum?
• Teacher`s role- the teacher needs to make sure to include centers (dramatic play, art, and music/ dance) in the classroom and provide the materials.
• Teachers should encourage students and ask open-ended questions.
Children should have the following art experiences:
• Graphic art- children draw with pencils, chalk, markers or crayons on blank paper. Coloring books should not be used because it is not produced by the child.
• Painting- at easels, on
• tables or using finger paints.
• Printing- sponge paint
with a variety of shapes
and colors.
• Sculpture- modeling clay, paper or glue with wood scraps.
• Collage- tissue paper, fabrics, seeds or any material that has a variety of texture.
• Sewing and Weaving- sewing on styroform, trays with yarn, and weaving paper.
• Combining techniques- creating puppets with paper or fabric or painting on fabric
• Viewing and talking about art- children share with the class, choose their favorite pieces and discus with the class.
How to make music meaningful? The teacher must
provide: • Instruments that
make a variety of sounds
• Songs- teacher should sing and dance with them
• Materials to dance with- streamers and ribbons
• Variety of different songs- records or tapes that the child can choose to listen to with different pitches, rhythms, subject.
Examples of music centers:
What to include in the dramatic play center?
The teacher must provide:
• Costumes• Kitchen area • Baby dolls • Accessories-
shoes, ties, wigs,
jewelry and hats
What is developmentally appropriate practice for
creative curriculum? • Children can choose their own
activity. • While in this activity they
decide how they will complete the activity- where to paint, what to paint, what colors to use and how long he/she want to paint.
What does it look like?• In a creative
curriculum classroom centers should be set up for the children’s use.
• Centers must include: an art table (easel, paper, paints, crayons, etc.), dramatic play area, and a music center
Works cited:• Brewer, J. (2007). Introducation to Early
Childhood Education. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc..
• (2004, July). Young Children on the Web. National Association for the Education of Young Children, Retrieved April 22, 2008, from http://www.journal.naeyc.org/btj/200407/.
Top Related