Early Childhood Art Curriculum

Abstract

Ideally, art curricula for young children should encompass elements of formal and informal learning, resulting in a sustained and intentional third pedagogical site, where children's indifference to disciplinary boundaries is celebrated as a form of kinship with contemporary art practice. Young children's artistic experience should incorporate both a growing mastery of multiple media and symbolic languages and a curriculum that blends exploratory and self‐guided experiences with collaborative inquiries on themes and topics of interest to them. The early childhood art curriculum should reflect young children's growing competencies, theories, and curiosities; encourage multilayered investigations and continual exchange of ideas and expertise; introduce children to contemporary art and artists who are engaged in similar inquiries; respect the intelligence and competencies of young children and their capacity to develop and share ideas and theories about the world; and approach early art education as a social and ethical practice.