In our society today, we are starting to see increased interests around ‘learning through play’. It is very heartening to see this concept taking root in Singapore. In a world where academia is the ultimate trophy, many forget that great minds are not built on academic excellence alone.
Creative activities are some of the most key building blocks of child development. Learning to create and appreciate the arts should be given equal emphasis to ensure a well-rounded development of our children; the next generation.
There are certain key developmental areas that we believe performing arts such as ballet, music and drama can contribute to. Here are 4 benefits the performing arts has on child development.
1. Motor Skills
Many of the motions involved in performing arts, such as holding a ballet position, clapping to keep a beat, playing an instrument, and similar activities are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children. Through ballet, kids can gain balance, coordination, strength and body awareness.
2. Language Development
For young children, learning performing arts (or just talking about it), provides opportunities to learn words associated to the subject, an action or emotions. Through their interaction with instructors, other students and learning materials, they quickly learn to communicate what they have learnt and how they feel about it.
3. Visual Learning
Watching a demonstration, reading musical notation, practising different movements or reading chord charts are activities that develop visual-spatial skills. This helps young children develop the ability to discern information from visual cues. This will be helpful as they grow up and navigate an increasingly visual world.
4. Inventiveness
In arts education, we encourage kids to express themselves and to take risks. This helps develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives. Naturally, it’ll also teach soft skills like confidence and perseverance, as they learn to face their fears and push on despite the odds.
We conduct exploration workshops in collaboration with other schools to help kids discover their potential.
Our next workshop is happening on 29th November 2017.
