Creative Activities
Final Exam Information
Final Exam for ECCE 1113
Tuesday, Apr 26, 2016, 05:30 PM
Ogeechee Technical College, Joe Kennedy Boulevard, Statesboro, GA, United States
How to Use This Page
Click on the videos to enjoy some wonderful types of art...I know you will enjoy both - have your sound on. They are both short, so please watch!
At the bottom of this page is a place for you to comment or ask questions. Everyone in class will see what you write. So if you have a question, please write it. If you have the answer to someone's question - please answer it. This is almost like a "new type" of discussion board. Use this page to prepare for your exam and be ready for it. I know you can do it!
Music
- Know the notes on a treble clef - lines and spaces!
- Why is music important in the early childhood years?
- Why should early childhood teachers have a basic knowledge of music?
Creativity
- Know Competency 1 Notes packet information (answers were given in class)
- Know Competency 2 Notes packet information (you did the 1-20 worksheet, and answers were given in Class 10 on March 22. If you were absent - get with a friend!!)
- Know what Creative Movement is (given out in Class 10)
- Know what is and is not considered a 'Creative Activity'
Art
- Identify the stages of Art Development (using picture - given out in Class 10)
- Know what early childhood art should be
- Know what masquerades as creative arts
- Why are puppets important to young children?
- Why are nursery rhymes important to young children?
- Why should teachers have a basic understanding of art and 'art talk'?
Handout: THINGS YOU HAVE LEARNED IN THIS CLASS
Things You Have Learned In
Creative Activities
Creativity
Early childhood education often focuses on children learning creative abilities through play. Children's creative abilities may be explored through their ideas, curiosity and feelings towards the arts, movement, music and imaginative play. Children of all ages delight in expressing their ideas through sounds, colors, shapes and role-playing activities.
Emotional Creativity
Emotional creativity is a measure of how children respond to their environment, the objects and people around them. Children respond in different ways to what they see, hear and touch.
Exploring Media and Materials
Exploring media and materials is the aspect of a child's creative development in which his reaction to media, pictures, toys and three-dimensional objects are observed.
Creative Imagination and Imaginative Play
Creative imagination and imaginative play in young children deal with how they respond to dance, stories, music, role-playing and art.
o Imaginative writing and drawing characters go a long way in developing a child's creativity.
o Dealing with different colors and painting pictures of different characters build the child's mind and improves her ability to test different color variations.
o The creative arts have a significant bearing on the early creative development of a child.
Creative Music and Dance
A child's ability to distinguish different sounds such as the banging of a door or the running of tap water and musical sounds that elicit dance movements is important at an early age.
o Children exposed to different musical tones and patterns of dance movement may be able to adapt quickly to these tunes and mime or sing songs easily from memory. Such children are likely to develop ample creative instincts at an early age.
Knowledge and Understanding
It is important to support your children in understanding the world around them.
o Give them the opportunity and tools they need to grow and learn.
o Expose them to people, plants and animals and show them how to act and respond to different objects in their environment.
o Allow them to investigate and explore their surroundings in a safe manner.
o Your support and encouragement gives your child the courage they need to grow, learn and succeed in life.
NURSERY RHYMES
Language Development
Rhymes offer them the opportunity to verbalize full sentences and complicated vocabulary at an early age.
Children learn the basic structures and language patterns of the English language.
They also pick up on the rhythm of language and often develop an appreciation of poetry.
Children have to hear the language (a lot!) when they are younger in order to, later, understand what they are reading.
Nursery rhymes are great for reading out loud due to their rhythmic nature, and gives children exposure to the language and sounds necessary to learn how to read.
Vocabulary Development
Reading or singing nursery rhymes can greatly enhance the size of a child’s vocabulary. A nursery rhyme such as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” for example, contains complex words such as “twinkle” and “wonder.” Children will likely hear words they would not otherwise encounter in everyday conversation.
Exposure to new words and concepts greatly increases the likelihood that a child will learn how to read well.
Cognitive Development
The musical sing-song and rhythmical nature of them helps with memory and recall of information.
Learning and repeating nursery rhymes can also give children practice with the sequencing of events. Many are “mini stories” with clear beginnings, middles, and endings.
In addition, a child who has memorized a nursery rhyme could then “read” that rhyme within the context of the book. He or she can practice holding a book, turning the pages in the correct order, and verbalizing in sequence with pictures (even if the words “read” by the child are not the exact words on the page).
Puppets
Learning through play is fundamental to our children's education, helping them to develop the necessary skills in life.
- Puppets can stimulate children's imagination
- Puppets encourage creative play and discovery
- Puppets are a wonderful interactive way to introduce narrative to even the most reluctant reader
- Puppets can be a powerful way of bringing story time to life
- Puppets can provide a focus for role play, encouraging the child's imagination and involvement in activities
- Puppets can play a fundamental part in the recitation of stories and verse.
- Hand puppets with workable mouths and tongues are an excellent motivational resource to inspire the teaching of phonics within literacy.
- Any puppet can encourage the quietest of children to start talking
- Puppets can break down barriers and provide an effective means to initiate communication.
- The child trusts the puppet and doesn't feel threatened by it, making it a perfect neutral medium through which they can discuss sensitive issues. The child can express thoughts, fears and feelings through the puppet that they might otherwise find difficult to voice to an adult.
- They can motivate and support children with difficulties in communication and interaction.
- They can help to develop their social and motor skills, and can meet the visual, tactile and emotional needs of the individual child.
- Large human puppets with glove hands and fingers can be used in conjunction with the different varieties of signing, adding a further dimension in helping children with both hearing difficulties and learning disabilities.
- They can portray different personalities and various traits and they cross all cultures.
- Puppets can share joy or sadness; they can be naughty or good, cheeky or shy;
When a child is engaged by a puppet they can learn lessons without even realizing.
Music
When young children are consistently engaged by music in an age-appropriate, socially accepting environment, they benefit at many levels:
- Reading. They gain the phonological processing, spoken language, and comprehension skills that are the foundation of reading.
- Quantitative. They build the spatial-temporal and reasoning skills required for math, science, and engineering.
- Social. They develop social and emotional skills that are essential for school readiness—like the ability to regulate their responses and relate to others in complex ways.
- Physical. By moving and dancing to music and playing simple instruments, children improve their gross and fine motor skills.
- Creative. Activities that encourage freedom within a fun and friendly structure spark their creativity.
- And of course, they develop a lifelong love of music.
Art
Developmental Benefits of Art
Motor Skills: Many of the motions involved in making art, such as holding a paintbrush or scribbling with a crayon, are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children.
Language Development: For very young children, making art—or just talking about it—provides opportunities to learn words for colors, shapes and actions.
Decision Making: According to a report by Americans for the Arts, art education strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The experience of making decisions and choices in the course of creating art carries over into other parts of life. “If they are exploring and thinking and experimenting and trying new ideas, then creativity has a chance to blossom,” says MaryAnn Kohl, an arts educator and author of numerous books about children’s art education.
Visual Learning: Drawing, sculpting with clay and threading beads on a string all develop visual-spatial skills, which are more important than ever. Even toddlers know how to operate a smart phone or tablet, which means that even before they can read, kids are taking in visual information. This information consists of cues that we get from pictures or three-dimensional objects from digital media, books and television.
Inventiveness: When kids are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives. “The kind of people society needs to make it move forward are thinking, inventive people who seek new ways and improvements, not people who can only follow directions,” says Kohl. “Art is a way to encourage the process and the experience of thinking and making things better!”
Resources
You could have created a “Creative” Pinterest account that could already full of (hopefully!!) good resources for you to pull from at a moment’s notice – or as you are planning your lessons. Pinterest allows you to organize your pins any way you want – so you could have boards on there for each unit you are teaching, for example. Use this great resource to enhance your classroom and your children’s experiences! This was not required from you - but you may have used it a lot during the semester, and you may have seen the benefits of having it!
Music & Movement Resource File
This file was meant to have you create a file for you to carry with you to your job. It was to be full of great songs, fingerplays, indoor and outdoor activities…..Your guide to getting your children moving and singing - - where you didn’t have to look up the information, but rather, it was neatly gathered for you in a book for quick reference.
Art Resource File
This file was meant to give you a resource of real pieces of art and history on the artist - - where you could inspire the children from this real piece of art. Example: Think about Van Gogh's "Starry Night" painting. Research and discover ways to use the REAL painting to INSPIRE the children to CREATE a piece of art. LESSON HERE: INSPIRE the children using REAL ART.
This file also gave you bulletin board ideas at your fingertips. “Recipes” for fun art mediums were also found….so you don’t have to take the time to find them later, when you are busy TEACHING! This file also was a place to give you 20 websites that were art related - - you could put the child/ren at the computer during center time or small group time and they could do an art activity ONLINE. For example: http://www.nickjr.com/kids-games/nick-jr-spin-art.html provides the Spin Art game. What fun! Simple online spots to let children play with art.
Illustrator Project & Style of Music Project
All teachers need to be well rounded. Going out of your comfort zone to learn about a music style you may not be familiar with or an illustrator you know nothing of….teaches YOU….and you have more information….so you are SMARTER! You are therefore a better teacher! You now know more about a music style/person and illustrator that otherwise you would have never known about.
In case you didn't know: I’m proud of you!