DEVELOPING LANGUAGE SKILLS THROUGH ARTS AND CRAFTS CLASSES
If you know me from my primary school teaching days, you will know that I am wholly passionate about developing early literacy skills. Although my classes now are arts and crafts based, the literacy teaching and learning certainly hasn’t stopped. So let’s take a look at what we mean by ‘developing language’, how we can implement this in art and craft sessions, whether at home or in a teacher-led class, and the effect this can have on a child’s wider education.
Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash
What do we mean by language development?
Language development begins with sounds and gestures, then words and sentences. It supports many other aspects of development such as cognitive, social and literacy development.
Language development supports the ability of your child to communicate, as well as express and understand feelings. It also supports your child's thinking ability and helps them develop and maintain relationships. It also lays the foundation for the reading and writing skills in children as they enter and progress through school or learn at home.
How can we implement this into art and craft sessions?
Let’s take this week’s after-school art session as an example. The main aim of the lesson was to create an autumnal canvas, having chosen appropriate colours. The children spent some observing the different shapes and patterns of leaves before practising their drawing skills. So where does the language come in? It could not have been a more perfect time to introduce some new language to my group of 6 year olds. We talked about blending, contrast, hues, tones, palettes… the list goes on. Children (and adults!) love to learn the correct, technical terms, no matter what the situation so art and craft classes are idyllic for introducing high level vocabulary.
Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash
However, if we just tell them the words, explain what they mean and move on, children are unlikely to remember that language by the following class, or indeed utilise it in other contexts. When introducing new vocabulary, write it up somewhere for the children to see. Lots of repetition is pertinent too, with the teacher or class leader regularly modelling the use of language. For example, when introducing contrast to the children, I explained how we were going to use contrast in our pictures and continued to repeat the word when showing examples of art works. When planning sessions for the coming weeks, I’ll make sure there is opportunity to again mode the use of the vocabulary. Responding to children’s comments using the language is also a perfect opportunity to reinforce the vocabulary. If a child says ‘I love how the bright red looks on the yellow’, it opens the doors to again discussing the contrast on their creation.
Ok, so aside from introducing new vocabulary, how else can develop language through arts and crafts sessions?
Storytelling!
This can come in many different forms in your classes (and is a whole other blog post in itself) but encourage pupils to tell a story about what they have created. If you have been creating an animal painting, the use of questioning is imperative. ‘What do you think their name could be? Where do you think they live? How would you describe their home?’ Provide ample opportunities for children to engage in conversation about what they are creating - it will work wonders for their language development, as well as their art skills!
Consider the environment too. Depending on your class setting, you may wish to have reading materials available for children. In my preschool crafting group, I always have books available (relevant to that week’s topic) for children to share with their parents/carers. Anytime is a good time for a book or story!
Overall, the key elements to language development through arts and crafts sessions are the plentiful opportunities for new vocabulary, which we can introduce, repeat and model, alongside storytelling - whether that is through one’s own creations or the sharing of books and stories together. I could go on and on about this so keep an eye for a further blog post on the topic soon or give me a shout if you want to chat more about literacy and art - my door is ALWAYS open for that!
