Why is Art Important in our Classrooms?

I’ve listed 10 reasons, but in reality, the list is endless! I’m a great believer in the positive power of art on our mental well-being. Art is a fantastic vehicle for learning, communicating feelings, and exploring outside-of-the-box thinking.

In this blog post, I’d like to explore why I feel including a good dose of art and creativity can be really beneficial to kids and their new teacher during the first week back to school – and throughout the rest of the year!

​I wonder….do kids feel more comfortable or free to express themselves in a deeper way via creating imagery rather than just using words?

Posters are available to download for FREE at the end of this post.

10 Reasons Why Art is Important – for kids and adults too!

• ​make sense of our thoughts
• connect with our feelings
• tell our story, explore our internal world
• encourage play, stimulate our imagination
• relax, quieten our minds, aid concentration
• relieve stress, reduce anxiety
• develop self-awareness
• build confidence and self-esteem
• lower blood pressure
• express complex states of mind

So, let’s imagine it’s Back To School Week….
The class meets up again after the long holiday. Students get to reflect on their summer memories, catch up with their friends, and start to get to know their new teacher.
They explore their learning preferences, where they excel, the challenges they face, and they set new goals for the coming year. And the new teacher starts to build a picture of each child

What a lot is going on!!

How are the children really feeling on their first day back to school?
And how are teachers feeling? A mixture of excitement and apprehension?
We are all unique and can feel happy, sad, scared, anxious, and excited all at the same time.
Excited to see friends again. Sad, or maybe glad that the summer holidays are over. Anxious about building a relationship with a new teacher. Scared that maths might be too challenging this year.

This is where we can introduce icebreaker games, ‘all about me’ activities, student surveys and teacher questionnaires.

Researching ‘Back to School’ activities on the web (mainly pinterest because I love it), I found an abundance of printable pages and activities, teacher surveys and questionnaires.

Most of them involve answering questions with words.

Being a visual, creative type who sees the world in pictures, this information gave me the inspiration to fill what I see, as a gap – to design some relevant, modern, imaginative back to school activities that involve illustrating our answers, exploring color and imagery, alongside expressing ourselves with words.

You can view my popular Back To School art and writing prompt activities here on my website or at my Teachers Pay Teachers store where you can securely purchase these downloads, from anywhere in the world.

Have a great start to the new school year!

All the best,
Diane