healthykids
“Schools are under so much pressure due to dwindling
resources and the No Child Left Behind legislation that some- times the children who most need the arts are put in reme- dial classes instead,” says Susan Tate, a former teacher who is now executive director of Kansas’ Lawrence Arts Center. Add in our digital culture—where hands-on most often
means a computer keyboard or phone-texting device—and domestic situations in which busy parents aren’t keen to clean up messy finger paints and other craft supplies, and the result is, “These days, kids also are less likely to do hands-on art at home,” adds Tate. At young ages, children are likely to be more passive
ARTFUL KIDS
Hands-On Creativity Nurtures Mind, Body and Spirit
by Judith Fertig K
ids’ active participation in the creative arts helps them develop physically, mentally, emotionally and socially—whether they
are painting, drawing, shaping pottery, perform- ing in plays or musicals, dancing, storytelling, or making music. Studies culled by educators at Arizona’s Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts confirm the multiple benefits, ranging from higher SAT scores to increases in self-esteem and improved ability to handle peer pressure. Yet, with shrinking school budgets, cutting back on
what are considered non-core subjects such as music and art is the path that many school districts are forced to take, explains Anne Bryant, Ph.D., executive director of the National School Boards Association. Communities, in turn, must find new ways to counter this new financial reality. For example, an elementary school music or art teacher, once devoted to a single school, now may have to travel to several throughout a district.
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than active learners, says Sharon Burch, a music educator in Mystic, Iowa. They may listen, for example, to whatever tunes their parents play, instead of simpler, more age-ap- propriate songs. Burch has helped fill the need by providing interactive Freddie the Frog resources for use by parents, as well as in music classrooms. Fortunately, communities across the country have rallied
to offer afterschool and weekend arts and crafts programs. Many simple arts participation activities are easy for parents, grandparents and caregivers to do along with the kids.
Developing Mental Abilities “Current studies of brain imaging and mapping show that the active making of music creates synapses in all four parts of the brain,” Burch says. By active, she means physically tapping out a rhythm with sticks, singing a song, dancing to a beat, marching, playing patty-cake or engaging in other age- appropriate, physical movement. “To really light up the brain, you have to do some- thing, not just passively listen.” Making music helps kids think, create, reason and express themselves, adds Burch. Practicing the art of simple story- telling, as well as having adults regu- larly reading children’s literature with youngsters, can also have a profound impact. A 2003 study published in the American
Educator, based on exhaustive research by Ph.D. psycholo- gists Todd Risley and Betty Hart, showed that by age 4, a huge gap in vocabulary skills exists between chil- dren of different economic levels.
Those growing up in a household of educated, professional people hear a cumulative 32 million more spoken words (1,500 more per hour) during these early years—and thus have a greater vocabulary—than those from welfare families. The researchers further documented more than five times the instances of encouraging feedback.
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