2.1.3.4: Expressive Activities for Three- to Five-Year-Olds

Caregivers/teachers should encourage and enhance expressive activities that include play, painting, drawing, storytelling, sensory play, music, singing, dancing, and dramatic play.

RATIONALE

Expressive activities are vehicles for socialization, conflict resolution, and language development. They are vital energizers and organizers for cognitive development (2). Stifling the preschooler’s need to play damages a natural integration of thinking and feeling (1).

TYPE OF FACILITY

Center, Head Start, Large Family Child Care Home, Small Family Child Care Home

REFERENCES

1. Cooney, M., L. Hutchinson, V. Costigan. 1996. From hitting to tattling to communication and negotiation: The young child’s stages of socialization. Early Child Education J 24:23-27.
2. Tepperman, J., ed. 2007. Play in the early years: Key to school success, a policy brief. El Cerrito, CA: Early Childhood Funders. http://www.4children.org/images/pdf/play07.pdf.