Art and Craft in a Pedagogical Practice

During this workshop we will try to understand why art and craft have traditionally been placed in opposition to one another, and how this impacts the way we engage children in creative processes. By demonstrating that art and craft are on a nonhierarchical continuum, we will come to appreciate how every creative experimentation, both guided and naturally occurring, has value and potential.
Objectives:
• Identify how our attitudes towards the creative processes may affect how children engage in it.
• Understand different approaches: while some children need a structure to their engagement, others may require a loose, independent approach to their experience of the proposed material.
• Explore how understanding the nature and properties of material informs boundaries for free experimentation.
• Discuss how to facilitate experimentation of material and creative process without stifling creativity.
• Art and Craft in the context of ELF (Early Learning Framework, 2019)