Visual Arts in Early Childhood Education Course

ONLINE COURSE | START ANY TIME

This online course from The Education Hub explores the research on the importance of the visual arts for children’s learning and development as well as presenting case studies of how three ECE centres develop rich, vibrant, and creative visual arts provocations and inquiry opportunities for their children. The course provides opportunities to put into practice the knowledge and strategies you are learning.

Designed for practicing early childhood teachers and centre leaders, the course will benefit teachers at all stages of their career.

Learning objectives:

  • To explore the holistic nature of experiences in the visual arts, and how the visual arts can support children’s cognition and language development.
  • To develop an understanding of the role of the teacher in visual arts
  • To explore the role of environments and materials in effective arts experiences
  • To learn about using the visual arts to support children’s sense of empowerment and participation in curriculum design
  • To build teachers’ confidence with using the visual arts for their own creative expression and in integrating visual arts into teaching practice

Enrol in course

Enrol yourself

NZ$ 132.00
GST not included

Lifetime access*

Personalised certificate

Enrol others AND yourself

From NZ$ 112.20 per person
GST not included

Group discounts of 15-25%

Lifetime access*

Personalised certificates

Enrol others NOT yourself

From NZ$ 112.20 per person
GST not included

Group discounts of 15-25%

Lifetime access*

Personalised certificates

What you'll learn on this course

Part 1: Introducing the visual arts

Describes the broad range of learning areas that can be supported through the visual arts and the significant role they play in enhancing children’s thinking skills and for developing pedagogies of shared inquiry and co-construction.

Part 2: Introducing the role of the teacher

Focuses on how to support children’s art-making through teacher-child interactions and how to extend children’s visual art skills at the same time as promoting thinking and discussion with and amongst children about the subjects they are representing.

Part 3: Exploring the role of the teacher

Examines in depth the concepts and prompts to use when planning visual art experiences for children. We work through an example of a planning an art experience focused on a contemporary artist’s work, before supporting you to think through an art experience to offer in your own setting.

Part 4: The visual arts in an inquiry approach

Develops further the idea of the visual arts as a tool for inquiry and investigation, with a focus on the ways in which visual languages can help children’s thinking to become more complex.

Part 5: Developing inquiry through the visual arts

Examines the pedagogy and practice of Reggio Emilia, and its focus on supporting children’s visual expression to provoke and complicate children’s inquiries, before offering guidance about how you might connect a visual arts experience to children’s interests and inquiries in your setting, to help children use the arts to explore and think about these more deeply.

Part 6: Environments and materials for the visual arts

Examines environments that promote engagement and inquiry through the arts, consider ingthe importance of materials for the visual arts, and review some of the research on the benefits of ‘loose parts’ for children’s creativity.

Part 7: Using materials intentionally in the visual arts

Extends the discussion on the intentional selection and presentation of materials for artistic exploration and expression, and supports you to develop and implement a visual arts experience for children that enables them to explore their working theories and extend an inquiry.

Part 8: Integrating visual arts into everyday teaching and learning

This part concludes the course by helping you to examine your professional identity in relation to the provision of visual arts experiences for children, and to reflect on ways to develop your knowledge, skills, and dispositions, as well as inspiring you with ideas about how to get started in delivering a visual arts programme in your setting.

Please note, all our courses are best completed on a desktop/laptop computer or tablet. Because of the amount of content, we do not recommend using a phone.

* Lifetime access means for as long as the course is hosted on The Education Hub

Group discounts apply to the full price, and can only be applied in one transaction, not retrospectively, or on the addition of more enrolments.

Our standard terms and conditions are available here

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