Creative Learning in the Early Years

Creative Learning in the Early Years is a joint initiative between the Arts Council of Wales, Early Years Wales, Mudiad Meithrin and the Welsh Government and is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

The initiative will bring together Early Years Practitioners and Creative practitioners to explore ways of developing learning environments and experiences that stimulate the development and natural curiosity of children aged 3 – 5, enriching their creativity, engagement and sense of wonder and belonging.

Developing the language and many means of expression of young children - Children have many languages of expression and these should be recognised and valued. These languages, including spoken language, originate and develop through experience.

Play and playful learning - Play and playful learning are an integral part of being human. Through play children relate their inner worlds of ideas, feelings and experience, taking them to new levels of thinking, feeling, imagining and expression.

Engaging with nature and outdoor learning – The natural world provides an environment rich in potential to nurture a child’s physical, emotional, and cognitive growth and wellbeing. The natural curiosity and sensory stimulation provided by engagement with nature and the outdoor world enables a growing connection and relationship with our natural surroundings.

Physical development and confidence in exploration – Exploration stimulates physical development and encourages children to use their senses. It also helps a child to become more active naturally.

Creativity, art and symbolic representation – Creativity and the arts provide children with the opportunity to explore and communicate their ideas, thoughts, and experiences in their own way. Young children use multiple forms of symbolic representation before literal forms take a more dominant role.

Noticing and supporting children as autonomous learners – Each child is unique in their developing experience of the world, their interests, curiosities, abilities and potential. Children learn best by doing things for themselves. In this way they become problem solvers, decision-makers and confident, exploring learners.

https://arts.wales/creative-learning-early-years

Cylch Meithrin Ffynnonwen and Cylch Meithrin Arberth