PT N YORKS Winter 19

Sing! Dance! Act!
Primary Times explores how the performing arts benefits our children,
and how parents can get involved at home
The performing arts are
a fantastic way to help
children to develop their
creative skills. There
are no wrong answers,
and everyone is actively encouraged to
explore new and alternatives opinions.
Whether its dancing, acting, or singing,
the arts can teach our children listening
and communication skills, boost their
self-belief and confidence, and improve
their academic performance. But most
importantly, the performing arts are a
way for children to let off steam and
have a lot of fun!
One of the main advantages of taking part
in the performing arts in young individuals
is the improvement of communication
skills. Acting and drama, for example, will
help with their presentation skills, vocal
projection, tone of speech, and articulation.
Listening skills will also become refined
by taking on board stage directions from
teachers, collaborating with peers, and
working together toward a common goal of
a fantastic end-performance. From learning
new lines, to remembering their acting cues
and timing, and rehearsing scenes time
and again, children can improve their
focus, memory, concentration, and
quick-learning skills.
For some children, confidence comes
naturally to them, however others needs
more support and encouragement in order
to develop into confident individuals. The
performing arts can provide children with
the combination of a safe environment and
activities they love outside of the normal
classroom environment, allowing them to
gradually come out of their shells.
Overcoming backstage, pre-performance
nerves can normalise a child’s feeling of
anxiety. Whilst it won’t take away nerves
they may have, it’s a fantastic way to teach
them methods of successfully overcoming
feelings of pressure. Practices like
contributing ideas to a drama performance
or adding new moves to a dance routine
can allow them to express their personality
in ways they may not have done before.
Links to improved performance in maths,
reading and writing from involvement in
performing arts are widely documented
too. Studies have found that creative and
critical thinking, problem-solving, and
reasoning increase and improve when arts
education is added to the mix.
Top Tips!
For how to
incorporate
the arts into
your home
When you read to your children, be
dramatic. Act out stories with props and
costumes. Encourage them to create
their own stories to act out for you.
Save old costumes and props for dress-up fun.
Add to the collection with clothing you no longer need:
hats, scarves, purses, shoes, and any other hand-medowns
you can find.
Introduce dance into the home. Teach your children
traditional dances you know or improvise with them.
Body movement is fun and good exercise.
Sing together. Teach the kids your favourite songs.
Expand your musical repertoire at home and in the
car. Venture into unknown musical territory so that
you and the children can hear something out of your
usual fare. This can be easily expanded by tuning
into a different radio stations and by checking out
cassettes and CDs from the public library — all for free!
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Winter 2019 | www.primarytimes.co.uk/nyorks