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The long-term benefits of educating our pupils in the arts cannot be understated. The arts do not just introduce them to the cultural signifiers that give us a sense of common humanity. They help our children develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Exposure to the arts gives children a vocabulary for understanding the physical world while teaching them self-expression, problem-solving and pattern recognition.
The arts are an important part of our curriculum at Huili, and they become the focal point in all areas of the nursery with our annual Huili Nursery Arts Festival. This year's edition saw our pupils engaged in several activities, such as photography, transient art, sculpture, and arts appreciation.
Photography is a wonderful way to teach our pupils personal expression and the basics of visual literacy. Given the prevalence of digital devices, it is highly likely that children handle cameras every day. Yet they may not even recognise the powerful tools of visual exploration and expression they hold in their hands. This is why we incorporated digital tablets into our pupils' schematic play.
The children were encouraged to frame the world around them and capture it from different angles — looking up at the sky, lying in the grass, focusing close on everyday items, etc. For our EY1 and EY2 pupils, this proved to be a useful exercise for teaching spatial orientation. For our EY3 and EY4 pupils, it was an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the tablets' basic editing functions as well as learn more about colours, shadows and basic principles of composition.
Transient art featured prominently in this year's activities. Our pupils had the opportunity to create works of art using repurposed or found items, such as buttons, nuts, bolts, bottle caps, etc.
The children had free rein to manipulate these items as inspiration struck them. As this form of art is by nature impermanent, the children were in a mindset that enabled uninhibited creation. They could focus on the process rather than the outcome.
There are several developmental benefits to this activity. Manipulating discrete items helps to develop hand-eye coordination. Moreover, it helps our pupils better understand quantities, size, patterns and positions, all of which are foundational to mathematics. It is also relaxing and conducive to cultivating mindfulness.
Pupils had the opportunity to explore other three- and two-dimensional art media. By allowing them to work with materials such as clay and wire, the children not only developed their capacity for autonomy and self-expression, they also conditioned the muscles in their hands and wrists. These are essential for the fine motor skills that enable them to handle anything from pencils to eating utensils. The long-term benefits are therefore profound.
Additionally, we provided every pupil with a canvas on which they could paint anything they liked. The primary colours red, yellow and blue were a starting point from which they could discover the many tones and hues that result from mixing paints in various ratios.
In addition to colour, the children were encouraged to explore shape, texture and even space. Painting implements provided went beyond just the standard variety of brushes. The children also used leaves, forks, stones, tongs, pom-poms, cotton balls and even fly swatters! Some pupils even used gravity by simply dropping paint onto the canvas from different heights. The canvases were then put on display at the entrance of the nursery for all parents to see.
Plato once said that musical education is valuable because "harmony and rhythm find their way into the innermost soul and fasten mightily upon it." This was why a key component of this year's Arts Festival was supporting our pupils how to appreciate music. Huili is fortunate to have several staff members and pupils with tremendous musical talent.
We are grateful that our young pupils were treated to spectacular performances by Wellington Shanghai’s head of performance music, Dr Paul Tkachenko; year 11 pupils Chuming, Sophia, Zoe and Doreen of the Wellington Music Band; Huili Primary music teacher Audrey Wang; and grade 8 pupils Tony and Andy; Nikki Street, Charlie Suero, Emma Wang, Gillian Zhu, Yenny Li and Luca Yi from Huili Nursery.
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“The Music Man” Dr Paul Tkachenko，Head of Performance Music Wellington College International Shanghai
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Wellington Music Band Chuming, Sophia Zoe, Doreen Year 11
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Cello, Flute and Violin Audrey Wang, Primary Music Teacher Tony Tang, Andy Ding Grade 8 Huili School Shanghai
The children were then prompted to formulate and voice their opinions on what they heard. Exercises like this help to develop our pupil's capacity for processing and using language and learning to express themselves with greater confidence. The pupils also got the chance to make their own musical instruments through junk modelling. This culminated in play their instruments in a musical performance. The act of creating music has powerful long-term effects. Understanding rhythm and scales, for instance, helps build the foundations of mathematical comprehension.
Any area of education can be a vehicle for creative expression, which is why our Art Week activities, were not limited just to our pupil's art and music classes. In PE, for example, the children experienced circus acrobatics activities, which proved to be a fun way for them to develop balance and coordination. Likewise, our library introduced our pupils to various drama-related activities, like mask-making.
Outside our Art Week, the arts remain an integral part of the Huili Nursery Shanghai curriculum year-round. It remains our mission to constantly inspire our pupils and provide them with new and exciting avenues for creativity and self-expression.
