Creative Learning in the Early Years

Creative Learning in the Early Years is a joint initiative between the Arts Council of Wales, Early Years Wales, Mudiad Meithrin and the Welsh Government and is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

The initiative will bring together Early Years Practitioners and Creative practitioners to explore ways of developing learning environments and experiences that stimulate the development and natural curiosity of children aged 3 – 5, enriching their creativity, engagement and sense of wonder and belonging.

The initiative has three aims:

• to bring together Early Years Practitioners and Creative Practitioners to explore ways of working in non-maintained early years settings, to create environments and experiences that are rich in language, play, physical development, arts, creativity and will support children as autonomous learners.
• to understand the central role of creativity and play in a child’s development.
• to combine the central principles of the Curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings with the Creative Habits of Mind pedagogy and learning from the Lead Creative Schools Scheme.

The initiative includes training sessions facilitated by Arts Council of Wales, Early Years Wales and Mudiad Meithrin. The training will be interactive and in person, and sets out to build confidence in exploring the three aims above and providing opportunities for reflection and collaboration.

Each setting will be matched with a Creative Agent (selected and paid by the Arts Council of Wales). The Creative Agent will first get to know the Early Years Practitioners and their settings and will then help them select a suitable Creative Practitioner to come and work alongside them in their settings with their 3 – 5 year olds, co-designing and co-delivering the 10 week project.

The projects will be designed with a focus on one or more of the following principles:

Developing the language and many means of expression of young children - Children have many languages of expression and these should be recognised and valued. These languages, including spoken language, originate and develop through experience.

Play and playful learning - Play and playful learning are an integral part of being human. Through play children relate their inner worlds of ideas, feelings and experience, taking them to new levels of thinking, feeling, imagining and expression.

Engaging with nature and outdoor learning – The natural world provides an environment rich in potential to nurture a child’s physical, emotional, and cognitive growth and wellbeing. The natural curiosity and sensory stimulation provided by engagement with nature and the outdoor world enables a growing connection and relationship with our natural surroundings.

Physical development and confidence in exploration – Exploration stimulates physical development and encourages children to use their senses. It also helps a child to become more active naturally.

Creativity, art and symbolic representation – Creativity and the arts provide children with the opportunity to explore and communicate their ideas, thoughts, and experiences in their own way. Young children use multiple forms of symbolic representation before literal forms take a more dominant role.

Noticing and supporting children as autonomous learners – Each child is unique in their developing experience of the world, their interests, curiosities, abilities and potential. Children learn best by doing things for themselves. In this way they become problem solvers, decision-makers and confident, exploring learners.

Creative Learning in the Early Years builds on the well-established Lead Creative Schools Scheme delivered by Arts Council of Wales, which has brought individually designed projects to over 700 primary, secondary and special schools. The scheme has supported schools to nurture the creativity of learners and has prepared them to get ready for the new Curriculum for Wales.

If you would like your early years setting to be considered, please submit your Expression of Interest (a short form asking a short series of questions which will be used to contact you and understand your main interests) using the Google Form link.

All Expressions of Interest should be submitted by 5pm 4 October 2023.

It is essential that the nominated Early Years Practitioner comes to the training.

Each setting will receive £125 plus travel costs to cover the cost of one member of staff, to attend face to face training during the week of 5 February 2024.