Welcome to The Children’s Art School!
I am thrilled to be able to announce that The Children’s Art School is now a charitable organisation. This means we can really start to get serious about promoting the value of art education for children and young people.
The aims of The Children’s Art School are
- to promote arts education as a tool to develop creative and innovative thinking
- To promote arts activities to support child development and well-being
A good place to start when trying to explain the value of art education is by asking ‘what does art do that maths doesn’t?’ Here are some answers:
art teaches you to make your own decisions
art teaches you to consider alternative solutions
art teaches you that mistakes can be opportunities
art teaches you to take risks
art promotes curiosity
art teaches reflective thinking
art develops problem-solving skills
art allows you to be yourself
art facilitates a sense of achievement and well-being
Creativity is crucial for our childrens futures. In order to meet the challenges that they will be faced with they will need to be INNOVATIVE. They will need to be good at PROBLEM-SOLVING and at looking for ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS. They will need to have the confidence to think their own thoughts and make their own decisions.
Art Education is not about encouraging all children to become artists or designers (although the creative industries do generate £8 million per hour and is the fastets growing sector of the British economy) It is about equiping children with skills that will enable them to be successful in all areas of their lives.
We are also faced with the challenge of an increasingly digital world. And yet, for young children, the opportunity to explore the physicality of the world around them is understood to be crucial. Art education for young children offers:
engagement with the physical world
exploration of materials
learning through doing
development of fine motor skills
development of communication skills
development of problem solving.
Art education allows children to experiment, to find things out for themselves, to make their own decisions and to have the confidence to take risks. Quite simply art can teach children to be innovative.
The Children’s Art School. Registered Charity: 1161225