Exposure to the Arts In School 1. Fine arts (drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking) 2. Photography, video, and multi-media arts 3. Choir and vocal performing 4. Band and orchestra 5. Theater arts 6. Film (fictional and documentary) 7. Yearbook 8. Dance 9. Creative writing 10. Leadership 11. Robotics Outside of School 12. Animation 13. Architecture and design 14. Opera 15. Ballet 16. Crafts 17. Cooking 18. Decorative arts 19. Fashion 20. Woodcrafts 21. Graphic arts 22. Jewelry 23. Junk, trash, and found art 24. Gardening 25. Performance art www.flaglerparent.com / September 2016 • 11 mother between now and the day she ventures out into the world is to make sure she never runs out of opportunities to practice being her multi-faceted self. She can sift and sort through what she likes best and doesn’t prefer for herself. She doesn’t need me for that, except to remind her that how she spends her time and energy in life is her choice. When I leave this world some day, as of course I will—we all will. I want to depart knowing I exposed my daughter to as much personal enjoyment of life as I could. And the arts will have played a leading role in this endeavor. I don’t want my daughter’s focus in life to be on survival or drudgery; I want her life to be a celebration of the art of being herself. And, in order to do this, she has to explore and assess her talents and abilities in her own ways. If you are denying your kids access to the arts because you think creativity is less important or less valuable than academics and athletics, I hope you are planning to stick around for a few more decades to witness for yourself the important role creativity will play in the evolution of our future. If you are, as I was, inadvertently capping the amount of creative activities your kids participate in to levels deemed reasonable, I hope you will stop. Instead of cutting the arts out of our kids’ schedules, we need to to allow access to as much arts activity as a child’s schedule permits. They can set the bar to a level that feels right from there. Here are twenty five types of activities to expose your kids to both in school and outside of school. Please don’t be confused about whose job it is to expose our kids to the arts. Arts engagement is a parent’s job first, before teachers or instructors get involved. Engage your children in the arts and watch the magic happen. They will thank you for your encouragement today and in the future with their smiles and feelings of contentment.
19061BMf
To see the actual publication please follow the link above