Why STARS Academy K–High School Program is the Place for Your Child
Dance. Theater. Music. Painting. The arts are not just a supplemental class to fill in around the core curriculum of math, reading, and science. The benefits of an arts-based education are deep and varied. (In many cases, the arts even bolster and enhance those core subjects.) Here are some of those top advantages of integrating various art programs into a school’s standard curriculum.
7 Benefits of an Arts-Based Education
A curriculum enriched with various artistic endeavors offers a laundry list of advantages to the students.
1. Development of Fine Motor Skills and Gross Motor Skills
When young children participate in artistic projects that involve coloring, painting, measuring, cutting, or pasting, they are developing fine motor skills. These kinds of activities give children the skills needed to feed themselves, dress themselves, grasp objects, and write.
This brings with it an increased sense of independence and confidence.
Activities like dance or choreographed musical theater help develop gross motor skills. These promote balance, coordination, muscle strength, and endurance. This lays the foundation for a lifetime of sports, play, and physical fitness.
2. Promotion of Key Social and Emotional Skills, Including Empathy
Any artistic or creative endeavor can promote social and emotional development. When the artistic project is collaborative, though, you begin to see benefits in interpersonal skills as well.
Things like group music or theater require children to work together toward a goal. That promotes effective communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and more.
Being able to navigate these demanding situations and see things from another person’s perspective ultimately encourages empathy.
3. Greater Enjoyment and Engagement with School
In many traditional school programs, children are expected to sit at desks, to study rote facts, and to convey those facts back on tests. This often results in a lot of pressure, anxiety, and disinterest—especially from students who don’t thrive in that kind of learning environment.
Incorporating the arts into a school curriculum gives students something to look forward to in a school day. The arts are typically a place where children are more free to have fun, to self-express, and to explore without the mental pressure of getting the answer “wrong.”
Having these kinds of dance, theater, or art classes can help children invest more meaningfully and enthusiastically in the entire school curriculum, including the more traditional aspects.
4. Improved Focus and Concentration
Using the arts as a means to improve concentration and focus makes logical sense. Honing any artistic pursuit requires focused attention, concentration, dedication, and hard work.
The science, however, backs this up in an interesting way.
According to the Dana Foundation research, studying the arts actually stimulated and strengthened the attention system within the brain. That was linked to improved overall cognition.
5. Healthy Mechanisms to Deal with Constructive Criticism
When it comes to math, science, and many other traditional school subjects, there is often a right answer and a wrong answer.
Obviously, these subjects matter and play an integral part in a well-rounded, educated student. However, because the arts don’t have an objective right and wrong answer, the feedback system is different.
Students are given individualized, constructive feedback on their artistic pursuits, and they have to learn to handle those critiques with grace.
In many endeavors beyond school, including in the professional realm, a person will be challenged, questioned, or critiqued. Already knowing how to internalize that in a healthy, productive way is a massive benefit and advantage for that person.
6. Improved Cooperation and Teamwork Skills
Collaborative artistic projects, including dance, theater, and music, require the input, dedication, and work of multiple people.
If an individual is struggling, it’s up to the group to find solutions to help that person for the good of the end product.
That helps children develop many skills that are vital throughout life:
Cooperation
Teamwork
Diplomacy
Empathy and understanding
Communication
7. Enhanced Personal Confidence
Art can feel very personal. Sharing those projects with others, whether through performances or exhibitions, requires a lot of vulnerability and bravery.
When young children are asked to stand up on a stage and sing, dance, act, or otherwise perform, that can be a scary prospect.
Going through with it gives students a concrete sense of accomplishment. They learn they are capable of more than they thought possible, and this breeds a deep, meaningful confidence they take into all aspects of life.
Interested in an Arts-Based Education for Your Child?
Do you want your child to benefit from all the social, emotional, interpersonal, academic, and behavioral advantages of the arts?
Then see what the STARS Academy curriculum offers.
If you want to learn more about the school, feel free to schedule a tour, or reach out at 818-835-4962 with any questions.
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