They discovered a direct correlation between the in- tensity of these early verbal experiences and later achieve- ment. Risley and Hart attributed the meaningful difference to the increased interaction—more storytelling, reading and parent-child discussions—that typically takes place in more affluent households.
Firing Imagination
“Our culture is so linear and lingually driven that it often doesn’t tap into the vastness of a child’s imagination,” ob- serves Anne Austin Pearce, assistant professor of communica- tion and fine art at Missouri’s Rockhurst University. Pearce often works with school children through library events that couple art and storytelling. “Also, there’s pressure to measure results in a culture that tends to label you either a winner or a loser, but art is not quantifiable in that way; art allows kids to develop ideas through the creative process that they can’t do any other way. “When kids are drawing, they often talk as they are do-
ing it,” she says. “You can then engage in a different kind of conversation with kids, just letting things happen and asking open questions. Kids tell their own stories.”
Confidence-Building Kids that study and perform at least one of the arts such as dance, playing an instrument or acting in a play, “... will have an edge up that’s so critical as an adult,” concludes Verneda Edwards, executive director of curriculum and instruction for the Blue Valley School District, near Kansas City. “Kids not only benefit academically by engaging in the arts, they also have the ability to get up in front of people and perform. That builds increasing confidence.”
Judith Fertig celebrates the craft of cooking at AlfrescoFood
AndLifestyle.blogspot.com.
Local Community Arts Resources
M
any communities offer arts programs for children of all
ages and income levels. Li- braries offer free read-along story times and opportunities to engage in crafts, illustrate stories and dance. This past summer, librar- ies across the country—from the Ephrata Public Library, in Pennsylva- nia, to the Mercer Island Library, in Washington state—utilized the theme of One World, Many Stories for their youth arts activities.
Kindermusik, an international program with
local affiliates, offers age-appropriate classes for newborns through age 7. If a child feels more kinship with Jack Black than Johann Sebastian Bach, then singing or playing guitars, drums or a keyboard might be the ticket at a nearby School of Rock program location. Private music, dance, art, pottery and theatre classes also are becoming popular activities for kids and their families.
At community arts centers such as the Lawrence
Arts Center, in Kansas, kids of all ages pull on a shirt or a smock and get busy with Mudpie Madness (working with clay), 3D Mania (sculpting with different materials) or building up their own painting and montage portfolios. At the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, in Indiana, preschoolers enjoy watching and participating in weekly plays, stories and songs—all using finger puppets. Community colleges, such as one in Alvin, Texas, offer arts classes like Picasso Pizzazz, encouraging kids in grades one through six to create their own master- pieces. Kids can Dance, Dance, Dance! in the Kids on Campus arts program at Bucks County Community Col- lege, in Bristol, Pennsylvania, or take ballet or cartoon- ing lessons in year-round classes through Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn, New York. Local parks and recreation departments are other
good resources for youth arts participation activities. Iowa’s Orange City Parks & Recreation Department, for example, offers Zip, Zap, Zog! Exploring Theatre, giving kids the chance to improvise with drama games, as well as develop acting and speaking skills.
natural awakenings
September 2011
33
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