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MOE - Nurturing Early Learners Portal
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About Aesthetics and Creative Expression

The learning area, Aesthetics and Creative Expression, involves the love and pursuit of beauty as found in art and music and movement.

Last updated 29 May 2025

On this page

Aesthetics and Creative Expression (A&C)
What are the benefits?
Learning goals and knowledge, skills and dispositions (KSDs) in A&C
How can you do it?
Organising the learning environment
Monitoring and assessing children's learning and development
Resources

Aesthetics and Creative Expression (A&C)

As an early childhood educator, you play an important role in promoting children’s creativity and imagination, and a love and pursuit for beauty through a variety of learning experiences in:

Art

Children engage in art experiences, experimenting with various materials to express themselves creatively and explore the elements of art through different media and techniques.

Elements of Art

The basic elements of art include:

  • Line

  • Colour

  • Shape

  • Texture

Music and Movement

Children experience the elements of music as they listen and move to a variety of music, sing songs of different genres and improvise on musical instruments.

Elements of Music

The basic elements of music include:

  • Dynamics

  • Tempo

  • Pitch and melody

  • Rhythm and beat

  • Timbre

  • Form

What are the benefits?

Aesthetics and Creative Expression, found in art, music, and movement, offer numerous benefits for children:

  • Building children’s self-confidence: When children express their views and how they understand the world through the arts, they develop self-confidence and are more secure and ready to adapt and participate in a new environment.

  • Enhancing problem-solving and creative thinking: When children are given opportunities to explore and experience different media, art techniques, types of music and musical instruments, opportunities for reasoning, problem-solving and using their imagination arise. 

  • Developing the whole child: varied opportunities in the arts foster the development of the whole children, including their creativity, as well as the cognitive, physical and social and emotional domains. 

Learning goals and knowledge, skills and dispositions (KSDs) in A&C

Refer to the Educators’ Guide for Aesthetics and Creative Expression for more information.

Learning Goal 1: Enjoy participating in art and music and movement activities


Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions (KSD):
Provide opportunities for children to…

1.1 Develop an interest in art and music and movement activities

Learning Goal 2: Express ideas and feelings through art and music and movement


Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions (KSD):
Provide opportunities for children to…

Art
2.1 Develop an awareness of the following elements of art: lines, colours, shapes and textures
2.2 Explore and use elements of art to represent ideas and feelings in creating their artworks
2.3 Explore creating 2- and 3- dimensional art using a variety of media, tools, techniques and processes

Music and Movement
2.4 Develop an awareness of the following elements of music: dynamics, tempo, pitch and rhythm
2.5 Explore and use environmental sounds, vocal sounds, body percussion and/or simple percussion instruments to demonstrate awareness of the elements of music
2.6 Keep a steady beat using body movements (e.g., clapping, tapping, marching) when listening or moving to music
2.7 Create music or sound effects using vocal sounds, body percussion and/or percussion instruments in response to a stimulus (e.g., music, song, story, rhyme, sounds in the environment)
2.8 Explore and use different body movements to express ideas and feelings in response to a stimulus (e.g., music, song, story, rhyme)
2.9 Sing a variety of songs with or without accompanying actions, body percussion, or percussion instruments
2.10 Perform a simple movement or dance routine

Learning Goal 3: Appreciate art and music and movement


Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions (KSD):
Provide opportunities for children to…

Art
3.1 Observe and develop an awareness of the aesthetics in the immediate environment and experiences
3.2 Develop an awareness of different artworks and art forms (e.g., paintings, sculptures, architecture, photographs) from local and global cultures
3.3 Share ideas and feelings about their own artworks and those of their peers and others

Music and Movement
3.4 Develop an awareness of sounds in the immediate environment and from a variety of sources
3.5 Develop an awareness of different types of music and dance performances (e.g., bhangra, Chinese opera, dikir barat, joget, lion dance, modern dance) from local and global cultures

How can you do it?

Open-ended arts and music and movement experiences makes learning enjoyable for children, allowing them the space to imagine, be creative and curious, and acquire knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Strategies for Art and Music and Movement

Additional Strategies for Art

Additional Strategies for Music and Movement

Organising the learning environment

Generally, the environment should be purposeful and aesthetically pleasing to develop children’s appreciation for beauty around them. You can organise the environment to promote children's learning.

Physical Environment

Interactional Environment

Temporal Environment

Monitoring and assessing children's learning and development

Teachers observe children’s experiences in the arts to gain insights into how children understand the world around them, as well as their thoughts, ideas, and feelings about themselves and their experiences.

Additionally, teachers gain a better understanding of children’s knowledge, skills, and dispositions for the learning area of Aesthetics and Creative Expression. By identifying children’s learning needs in the arts, teachers can respond accordingly, adjust instruction, and plan appropriate activities to enhance the children’s creative experiences in art, music, and movement activities.

You can ask open-ended questions to find out what children are doing and examine and interpret their responses and actions to better understand children.

Resources