Art Fosters Joy & Creativity

New research suggests that teachers can use art as a very effective teaching tool to help students remember and master difficult academic subjects.

There is extensive research on the benefits of art in schools, including how the arts bring joy, foster creativity, increase engagement, build determination and problem solving, and help students acquire complex skills. Arts integrated academics is central to how we teach in Waldorf education. We know that incorporating music, poetry, painting and dance all help our students engage, retain concepts, and develop a lifelong love of learning.

At Cedarwood, we take a different approach to early childhood education. We focus on what is developmentally appropriate for each age group, understanding that children especially need music, play, movement, and art — which are critical to social-emotional health and academic success.

A music-rich experience for children brings very serious benefits, as Mary Luehrisen, executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation finds:

“A music-rich experience for children of singing, listening and moving is really bringing a very serious benefit to children as they progress into more formal learning,” says Mary Luehrisen, executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation, a not-for-profit association that promotes the benefits of making music.

Read more about “The Benefits of Music in Education” here.

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Why Waldorf? At Cedarwood, each student’s imagination is continually nurtured by a team of teachers and a broad spectrum of experiential learning opportunities as they develop their capacity for growth, creativity, and critical thinking. The curriculum is comprehensive and designed to educate the whole child, with lessons in math, science, language arts, history, geography, music, eurythmy, handwork, movement, and not one but two world languages, Spanish and Japanese. Art is not taught separately in our elementary program, but rather imbues students’ understanding of every single subject they encounter.

Curious about a Waldorf education for your child? Let’s connect!