Empowering Young Children through the Creative Arts

 

September 2024 saw the first children starting school who were born during the Covid-19 pandemic. Evidence suggests that there have been delays in language and social and emotional development. These challenges are more pronounced in areas of social disadvantaged, and many children had limited experience away from their home environment.

It was within this context that our project took shape. Inspired by professional conversations about the pressures faced by children, families and educators in the aftermath of the pandemic, we began exploring how creative arts might help rebuild confidence, connection, and communication.

Pilot Project

The pilot project using the art of Matisse as a provocation, was conducted in May and June 2024 in one nursery setting and aimed to:

• Improve young children’s communication skills through using creative arts.
• Enhance partnership with parents, carers and the local community through engaging them in the children’s leaning and celebrating their achievements through a community exhibition of the children’s work.
• Develop early years practitioners understanding of child development and develop confidence in using creative arts to foster change.

The findings were promising and included:

• Practitioners fostering a positive community of practice that encouraged child-led exploration.
• The creative arts were used as a significant vehicle for speech and language development.
• The children respond enthusiastically and creatively to Matisse’s art.
• Improvements in language and well-being, as well as increased engagement by children and families.
• The community event to share the work of the children was a real celebration and extremely well attended by parents and wider family members.

Next Steps

The impact of the project all involved was more that we had expected and we wanted to see what could happen if this approach was extended and shared more widely. We applied for Knowledge Exchange funding from the University of Northampton to scale up the project and evaluate its impact. The funding was to support the purchase of a book on Matisse, clay, staff cover for one day and money towards the celebration event at the end of the project.

Building a Community of Practice

The wider project brought together five early years settings across England, ranging from a maintained nursery school to nursery classes and a reception class. Over six weeks, educators formed a community of practice, drawing on Wenger’s (1998) ideas of collaborative learning, to explore how creative arts could enrich their practice and support children’s holistic development.
Through seven one hour online workshops, we worked collectively to:

• Co construct the parameters of the project and lay foundations for the community of practice.
• Share emerging work, generate ideas and explore practice.
• Strengthen educators’ understanding of child development and working with families from diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Use creative arts as a tool for reflection, discussion and professional growth.

An online Padlet served as our shared record—capturing children’s artwork, videos, and stories as they unfolded. Educators engaged with each other’s posts, asked questions and offered encouragement. Every setting also received two books and clay to enrich the children’s creative explorations.

Examples from the Padlet

The Padlet was used to share all the pedagogical information and the children’s work. The Educators reported how helpful and stimulating this was for their own work. Sharing and learning from each other and the children.

 

Celebrating Creativity and Connection

As the project drew to a close, each setting hosted a community celebration, with three settings later coming together for a joint event in a local venue. These gatherings highlighted how deeply the children had engaged with the creative process.

Research

The overarching research question was:
How do we empower ECEC leaders in the use of creative arts to enhance language and social and emotional development in young children?

Objectives

1. What is the educators experience of using creative arts in their practice?
2. What happens when we use the work of a specific artist as a provocation for child centred creative arts in ECEC?
3. How has leading on the project built the educators confidence in using creative arts as to enhance early years practice?
4. How have the educators experienced the community of practice as a vehicle for their own learning?
5. What measures do educators use to assess, language and social and emotional development in their setting?
6. What have the educators noticed about the children’s language and social and emotional development during the project?

Methods

1. Individual interviews using open ended questions with educators prior to the start of the project.
2. Individual interviews using open ended questions with educators two weeks after the end of the project.
3. Focus group with educators at the end of the project.
4. Analysis of wellbeing and involvement scales.

Ethical approval was provided by the University of Northampton and the findings were analysed using thematic analysis.

Key Findings

1. The community of practice was transformative and led to immediate and ongoing impact:

The project provided freedom for the educators to be led by the children rather than them leading. As one of the educators’ commented in the focus group interview:

…the impact on our children has been phenomenal in a way that I never would have expected. To see them blossom, their confidence, their just their use of language, their enthusiasm to talk about what they’re doing has just been amazing to just be able to stand and watch.

All the educators reported substantial improvements in language and social and emotional development. In relation to language development and they were surprised by the improvements over the six-week period. Comments included:

To see them blossom, their confidence, their just their use of language, their enthusiasm to talk about what they’re doing has just been amazing to just be able to stand and watch.

You know, this is I’m watching the fireworks…there is so much.

And have that privilege of listening to the discussions going on has just been something far beyond what I would have expected.

In relation to well-being, there is no one standard measure used by settings, an interesting finding in itself. However, all the educators reported improvements. Two of the settings used the Leaven Well-being and Involvement Scales. One of these reported a one scale increase between the start and end of the project and the other a two-scale increase.

2. The Children:

The impact was greater than the educators could have imagined. Language improved, children made new ‘communities’ of friendships, they talked to each other about their work, and the educators were able just to observe the richness of conversations which took place. As one educator stated:

And have that privilege of listening to the discussions going on has just been something far beyond what I would have expected.

They found that children developed confidence and had self-initiated conversations with their peers, not just those they played with but others in the setting:

          … they’re having the confidence to talk to their peers, their friend. It could be a familiar friend, but it could just be we were all at the same table, and I’m just going to tell you what I’m doing.

3. Parent and Carer Engagement:

This was a finding that had not been expected. All settings reported parents being energised, engaging in the project and doing things with their children at home. They could not pinpoint why exactly but thought the 6 weeks of the project made a difference, with parents being engaged all the time. Staff were also enthusiastic with parents as were their children.

Summary

We saw children grow in confidence, build friendships, express themselves through language and art and take ownership of their learning.

Educators flourished. Many spoke about the renewed sense of purpose and enjoyment they found in their practice, the value of being part of a supportive professional network and the sense of pride in the children’s progress.

Parents and carers became actively involved in the project; some extended the project at home and started to take their children to museums. Most importantly, the work of children was celebrated and valued by the settings, family and wider community.

What this project ultimately revealed was the power of creativity not only as an educational tool, but as a catalyst for connection, healing and change. For children and adults alike, creative arts opened new spaces for expression, collaboration and possibility.

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