Children, Meaning-Making and the Arts

Book excerpt: This Australian text is about children’s voices – their minds, feelings, souls. It’s about how children’s voices are liberated through the arts, and how children make and communicate meaning through still and moving images, sounds, textures, gestures and the use of many other signs. It is also about how teachers, parents, peers and the community influence children’s early development, and how quality arts education in early childhood is an essential component of lifelong learning. The authors are teachers and researchers who are respected for their contributions to early childhood arts education. All of them have addressed their topics via practical examples, which are embedded in current philosophies and theories, often stemming from original research and firsthand interactions with children.