A theater arts education provides many advantages to a child’s academic success. The skills acquired in a theater arts education enhance a child’s cognitive, motor, and social development. These developments improve a child’s overall performance in various aspects of life.
Kids and teens can benefit from attending a performing arts center. Practicing performing arts improves a child’s ability to think quickly as they apply the lessons from the stage to real life. Young performers are also able to adjust and handle their anxiety better than their non-performer peers. For these young performers, a theater arts education can also elevate their self-esteem during this crucial time in their development years.
Parents could integrate theater arts into their child’s early development and learning by exposing them to child-friendly theater performances. There are many benefits that these children could get from being exposed to various forms of art.
Benefits of Theater Arts
There are many benefits to exposing kids and teens to theater arts or performing arts. The nature of these benefits concerns the social, emotional, physical, and even academic aspects of a young performer’s development. Theater arts involves the holistic development and improvement of a child as their young mind is exposed to the beauty of theater as an art form. Here are some benefits of exposure to theater arts to young performers.
Theater arts involves the performers exploring activities beyond their comfort zone. This aspect of theater arts helps build a young child’s self-confidence which is essential in nurturing confident and responsible adults. These children are encouraged to think outside the box and to cope with performance fears. The lessons learned in these aspects are valuable as they could take these lessons beyond the four walls of the theater.
Being involved in performing arts classes can help enrich a child’s communication skills, concentration, and memory. The acting lessons involved in performing arts classes help improve a child’s vocal projection, tone of speech, and articulation. These are great skills to develop in preparation for the real world. Being part of a theater production company also enhances a child’s listening skills as they take directions from their teachers and coaches.
Children work with a team when they enter a theater arts class. This sharpens their teamwork abilities and social skills as they work with children their age as well as adults who are beyond their age range. Being exposed to different types of people can greatly enhance their people skills that they can carry to their adulthood.
Apart from these benefits, it has also been observed that children who take part in performing arts classes also excel in their academic life. With theater arts, their critical thinking skills are sharpened which greatly help their academic tasks.
It is important for parents, teachers, and guardians to be aware of the benefits of being involved in a performing arts class to allow children to explore the possibilities of this art form.
Exposing Kids to Theater
Exposing your kids or students to theater can be a complicated task depending on the child’s attention span, background, and interests. However, there are ways to make the process easier and smoother. It is important for parents and guardians to get to know their kids’ preferences before embarking on the journey of theater arts introduction to young children. Here are some steps to take when introducing theater to young kids.
You want children to explore theater the way you appreciate the art form. With this in mind, you have to be patient in getting to know what makes your child tick when it comes to theater arts. You have to observe and do a “rehearsal” with a movie or a show to see if their attention span can handle the length of a theater production. It will also help if you give them a background of the show you are about to watch. If the show is based on a book or a movie, it could help to guide them through this beforehand.
When bringing children to the theater for the first time, it is important to maintain open communication with these kids. Answer their questions as best you could so that they could get a good experience and memory from this particular production.
The bottom line is that you should maintain the element of fun in theater arts. Whether the kids prefer being part of a play or simply being part of the audience, exposure to this art form can greatly benefit their overall development.
Find the best way to introduce theater arts to your kids. It is a beautiful art form that can positively affect a child’s development and how they perceive the world around them.
