Component 1: Experimentation and Participation in the Creative Arts

By the following age ranges, children typically, for example:

Make eye contact with singers and imitate by babbling during or after an adult sings or chants
Use objects as tools to make sounds, for example, banging blocks together with adult help
Respond to music and being sung to by listening and moving bodies (e.g., their heads, arms, and legs) with some intent and control
Engage in social play with adults
Show curiosity and explore sensory materials; enjoy feeling various pleasing sensations and textures
Attend to bright and/or contrasting colors in pictures, photographs, and/or mirror images

Use facial expressions, sound (e.g., vocalization, clapping), and movement to encourage singers, music, or finger plays to continue or in response to cues.
Enjoy producing music and other sounds with simple instruments (e.g., triangles, tambourines, etc.)
Recognize and associate a certain song or sound with a particular meaning (e.g., hear a naptime song and think that it’s safe, secure, and time to nap)
Stand with feet wide apart and sway to the sound of music
Engage in more complex play sequences based on an understanding of everyday events and routines (e.g., pretend to drink from a cup and then say “Ah!” when finished)
Use a variety of materials in exploring and creating visual art (e.g., create marks with crayons, paint, or chalk)
Scribble spontaneously on paper or in sensory materials (e.g., sand; shaving cream)

Talk or sing to themselves for comfort or enjoyment (e.g., repeat the same song over and over)
“Play” musical instruments (e.g., attempt tap on a drum, press keys of a piano, ring a bell)
Dance to music in a group with support from adults
Explore roles through imaginative play, such as saying “boo” to an adult and acting scared when the adult says “boo” to them
Seek out imaginative play opportunities with trusted adults
Use a variety of art materials with increasing purpose (e.g., squeeze soft clay and dough into abstract shapes)
Scribbles become more controlled with repeated motions (e.g., series of horizontal lines; sometimes naming their scribbles)

Imitate simple songs and finger-play movements (e.g., imitate Itsy-Bitsy Spider finger movements but may not know all of song lyrics)
March with musical instruments with support from adults
Dance alone or with others
Use imaginative play as a vehicle to express their own life experiences and familiar stories
Watch and copy other children’s play activities
Create representations of real objects in artwork and tell about their artistic creation
Demonstrate preferences for favorite colors
Begins to draw people with circle type head with arms and legs

Recite familiar songs and fingerplays (e.g., Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, ABC song)
Explore musical instruments and use them to produce rhythms and tones
Begin to move their bodies with increasing control and expression
Act out the plots and characters found in familiar stories
Participate in pretend play with other children
Identify and sometimes name the content in their work of art (e.g., “I made a dog, and his name is Spot”)
Notice and communicate about the content of art, music, and drama (e.g., “I like dogs” to describe a picture of a dog)
Choose their own art for display in the classroom or for inclusion in a portfolio or book (e.g., bring drawing to their mailbox)
Begins adding more detail to drawings of people adding arm with fingers and more elaborate faces

Plan and create new songs and dances or add their own words to songs with support from adults
Apply vocal skills to instruments to produce more complex rhythms, tones, melodies, and songs
Move their bodies with increasing skill to express emotions and rhythms
Write and act out stories based upon familiar topics or characters
Intentionally plan and create content in a work of art and show persistence in completing it (e.g., a picture, a playdough sculpture, etc.)
Engage with displays of visual art, music, and drama, and may express preferences for types of artwork or art activities
Communicate about the composition of and elements appearing in art, music, and drama in increasing detail (e.g., “I like that drawing because they used lots of stars.”)
Choose own art for display in the classroom or for inclusion in a portfolio or book and explain their choices and preferences in some detail (e.g., “I used the color red and red is my favorite color.”)
Draws people with even more detail such as hair, eyelashes, trunks for bodies, and hands with fingers