Creativity and Art in Early Years, Leeds Trinity University

It was a cut-stick, painting and printing frenzy this morning as I spent a very enjoyable few hours working with students at Leeds Trinity University.

Delivering a lecture on the role and impact of art and creativity in Early Years learning, I was impressed by the ideas and imagination of the students.

Working on the second year of their Early Childhood Studies degrees, the students explored elements of best practice of a creative teacher including:

- offing variety of starting points, techniques and materials for the children to use.
- planning for progression of children's skills while allowing them freedom to explore and experiment.
- developing an open dialogue with the children to assess their learning.

A resounding success - well done to you all for your hard work!

But don't just take my word for it. This is what the students thought:

"Fun and inspiring and explained creativity in a lot of detail".

Sophie, Leeds Trinity

"It has really made me think outside the box and shown me how to apply different ideas in practice."

Name Withheld, Leeds Trinity

"Gave us ideas for creative activities. [The workshop showed] how important it is to let the child do their own thing with certain activities and what type of questions to ask."

Iona, Leeds Trinity

"Really enjoyable, learned a lot, well taught!"

Frankie, Leeds Trinity

"It has enhanced my view that art is very important in teaching children. Therefore, it has made me want to use these techniques when in a setting."

Emma, Leeds Trinity

Just a taster of their views! 100% of respondents said they would like to see ARTiculate back at their university. Maybe I'll see you sooner than you think!

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