“It is important in early years to develop fine motor skills and cognitive development – this can be achieved creatively by printing, drawing, cutting, painting and controlling choices in materials and tools,” says Genevieve Spizzirri, the art curriculum leader for Kellett School’s Kowloon Bay Preparatory School.

“The development of fine motor skills is critical to later adult abilities. When a child holds a paintbrush, glues buttons onto paper, or uses scissors to cut pieces of paper, they are engaging and advancing these essential skills,” says Zoe Heggie, lower school vice principal for Early Years to Grade 1 at Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS).

At Hong Kong International School (HKIS), teachers encourage the children to be bolder with their choice of materials through creative lessons that go beyond common options such as paint and colouring pencils.

“Aside from building creativity and generating ideas, we encourage children to take risks with tools and materials. We do this by exposing children to interesting art-making processes and tools they may not be familiar with,” explains Kit Lang, art teacher at HKIS – Lower Primary. “Through this process of experimentation and discovery, children build fine motor skills, problem-solving abilities and learn new ways of overcoming challenges.” Lang shares an example of one lesson where children got to learn about the stained glass windows by a legendary architect before making their own version.

“One recent lesson illustrating how this looks in the classroom is a stained-glass window children made using coloured tissue paper and plastic laminate. Children designed a composition based on the stained-glass windows of the late American architect Frank-Lloyd Wright before designing their own,” she says.

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Nurturing communication skills

Art-based activities are a form of personal expression and hence a way for children to communicate more in both verbal and non-verbal ways.

“By producing art, children can visually communicate a feeling, thought or idea without the use of speech or language. Art transcends language and communicates without it,” says Charlie Gorringe, art curriculum leader at Kellett School’s Pok Fu Lam Preparatory School. “Embedding this during early years builds confidence and broadens the skills for so much more than what is often assumed is just drawing or painting.”

Emma Hewett-Smiles, elementary art teacher at Carmel School, points out that children are engaged in enhanced listening and communication skills in most activities that involved art.

“Art can also enhance communication and listening skills, self-esteem and social skills, as well as encourage focus and discipline. For example, enhanced communication and listening skills are showed and incorporated in almost every activity in the art curriculum. Students are expected to listen to instructions and relay this information into each and every activity,” she says.

Hewett-Smiles says that getting children to express themselves through art also has positive benefits on their well-being. “There are benefits of emotional expression which for some students can have a positive effect in instilling focus, concentration and have a calming effect, all of which can have a positive effect on other studies and on personal well-being in general,” she says.

And once the piece of art is created, the next step of getting children to describe and explain their creation is another way to nurture good communication skills.

“Children can use art to represent their experiences and their noticings [sic] of the world. These can be evident through the work itself or through a verbal explanation given when a child is asked ‘what would you like to tell me about your artwork?’,” says Allison Banbury, principal of ESF Tung Chung International Kindergarten.

Helping develop cognitive thinking

When children are using their imagination to create something, they are tapping into their cognitive abilities and allowing their mental capacities to grow in the process.

Says Heggie from CDNIS: “Research shows that there are numerous and wide-ranging benefits for young children who experience the creative arts at school. Arguably the most significant from an education perspective is that the creative arts foster the development of children’s cognitive abilities. Exploring and taking part in creative activities trigger the use of children’s imagination, which in turn stimulates and expands their mental capacities.

“Not only are artistic endeavours supreme sources of joy for young children, they are vitally important ways of encouraging their full cognitive development, confidence, independence of mind, spontaneity, cultivation of wonder, and overall state of positive mental health.”

Children get to practise and strengthen their higher thinking skills, whether it is about cause and effect, decision-making or problem-solving.

“Children need to utilise organisational skills within their thought process to think about how to get to their •final product, as well as to be open to changes throughout their process,” says Stephanie Julian, coordinator of the programme at Carmel School’s Holly Rofé Early Learning Centre.

“Many different factors play a role in art, including planning and organising thoughts, problem-solving, and cause and effect,” she says. “Before children start an activity, we get them thinking about how to embark on the process, and the result they would like to achieve. Art encourages building and developing these life skills.”

And any parent who has observed their child engrossed in an arts and crafts activity long enough for them to take a much-needed breather will agree that art can increase children’s ability to concentrate.••“Art increases cognitive function, raises serotonin levels and produces dopamine which increases concentration, memory capabilities and drive. When your brain is focused on art the ‘back door’ features of the brain kick in, filing mechanical information and organising the rest of learning,” says Spizzirri from Kellett School.

Creating a piece of artwork together also encourages children to interact with one another, thus allowing them to learn how to collaborate and socialise.

“Art enables us to gain a sense of self – what are the experiences and interests that we want to share with others and how can this be achieved. Art can strengthen children’s cultural identity and enhance their understanding of others as they encounter various materials, techniques and artefacts,” says Banbury from ESF Tung Chung International Kindergarten.

“Opportunities for joining others to create a collaborative piece of art support and promote children’s social development as children negotiate, talk with each other, listen, problem-solve and join in the joy of experimenting and creating together.”

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Building a strong foundation

When children develop these skills through art, this will also benefit how they approach subjects such as reading, writing and arithmetic. “Art draws on so many educational subjects and areas of development – creativity, cognitive development, mathematical skills, spatial awareness, problem-solving, science, cause and effect,” says Julian from Carmel School.

Hewett-Smiles, Julian’s colleague at Carmel School, agrees: “Through art, children are given opportunities to develop skills and experiences in problem-solving, fine motor skills, collaboration, exploration, logic and reasoning, and play. Play, in particular, is an important •aspect of the early childhood curriculum because it is through play that children discover the world around them as well as learn about relationships and cooperation. These skills can be transferred into other subjects not only in school but in other areas of life,” she says.

Fostering independent learning

Children generally find art to be fun and need little encouragement to engage and continue with an activity, giving them ownership of the task at hand and what they are learning. “Children are naturally happy and engaged in the process of making art, which sets them up as agents of their own learning from an early age,” says CDNIS’ Heggie.

“In kindergarten and primary, the benefits of art and creative activities allow children to explore, experiment and more importantly, give them a space where they can express themselves entirely,” says Gorringe from Kellett School. “Lessons are structured yet allow freedom to move in the way that they wish. Different narratives and opinions are discussed, giving them ownership in everything that they do.”

Banbury and her former colleague at ESF Tung Chung International Kindergarten, Tania Peterson, emphasise that the materials used in art can do wonders in developing a child’s curiosity and willingness to learn.

“In kindergarten, art supports children’s natural curiosity to make meaning. Children play with materials they encounter. What a material can do determines the learning potential and the agency of the child to explore and impact the material, as the child discovers what it is and how to use it,” says Banbury.

“The children build up theories that are forever changing based on the outcomes of their ongoing research of the materials. Children observe, predict, discover, ask questions, try things out, problem-solve, experiment and share ideas and outcomes.”

Julian from Carmel School shares an example of a lesson she taught, where children created artwork using Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers as inspiration, and how the children took pride and ownership in conceptualising and creating their own picture.

“The children, aged four-to-five years, looked at van Gogh’s work and created their own impressions from still life. They planned their picture before they began and, step by step, were able to create outstanding individual impressions of still life. It was heart-warming to see their pride in what they produced and their love of the process.”