The Creative Curriculum® for Pre-K - Criterion 2.7

The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials partially meet expectations for promoting the core ideas of visual arts, music, dance, and drama (2.7a). 

The materials integrate elements of the fine arts, including music, visual art, drama, and dance. The Year Ahead guide indicates that all fine arts domains are present within each study. Implementation leans heavily on exploration and play without guided instruction. For instance, in the Percussion study, students are invited to experiment with instruments, but the resource does not provide guidance on how to interpret or build skills from the different sounds, vibrations, and tones. An example is seen on Day 1, where students fill cups and discuss their discoveries without any accompanying teaching points.

In the Cameras study, Investigation 2 Day 2, students are asked to create traffic lights and play a movement game before shifting to Independent Discovery, where they act out traffic light motions. These moments often overlap with outdoor play or are interwoven into math and literacy times, giving students freedom to explore but not always building toward deeper artistic understanding.

The materials offer some opportunities for students to create, perform, respond to, and connect with artistic work. Teacher supports, such as the Playful Observations prompts, encourage educators to dig deeper into student connections with artistic activities. For example, in the Lights study, Investigation 3, Day 3, teachers are guided to encourage dramatic play by asking questions about students’ characters. In the Percussion Instruments study, students engage in music-making during choice time by playing instruments along with music (p. 15), explore drama through pretend play and recipe-following in a dramatic play area (p. 16), and document their learning through drawing in a Percussion Instrument Journal, supporting visual arts integration (p. 19). Additional opportunities include experimenting with sound using household items and traditional instruments, such as playing spoons after viewing a short video (p. 55), and manipulating percussion instruments with different materials to explore sound changes (p. 59). 

Students are introduced to terms related to instruments, such as drumhead, membrane, and strike, but these terms are not consistently reinforced across lessons. As a result, students are introduced to fine arts vocabulary and skills, but these experiences are not intentionally developed or reinforced over time. 

Overall, The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials include opportunities for creativity and exploration across the fine arts. These experiences are present across studies but are not consistently structured or balanced across visual arts, music, dance, and drama. Supports for instruction are included but are not systematically embedded throughout the materials. While students are exposed to fine arts vocabulary, it is not consistently integrated into instruction. Opportunities for artistic engagement are provided; however, the development of fine arts knowledge and skills is not consistently sustained across studies.

The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials partially meet expectations for supporting artistic expression, ideas, and artistic work through integrated and interdisciplinary experiences (2.7b).

The materials provide moderate opportunities for artistic expression, though integration varies across domains. Music appears most consistently, including singing during read-alouds and experimenting with instruments during Choice Time. Fine arts opportunities often occur during unstructured play, including role-play and imaginative activities; however, these experiences are not consistently connected to core instructional concepts. As a result, alignment with the fine arts domain may require additional interpretation by teachers, potentially affecting coherence and instructional depth.

Some studies include examples of creative engagement, though these vary in focus and consistency. For instance, in the Seeds study, children pretend to be trees dropping seeds, and in the Grocery Store study, they design and advertise products through art projects and role-play. In contrast, the Percussion Instruments study places greater emphasis on music and movement, with students exploring instruments and related texts added to the classroom library to support literacy development. In this study, opportunities in drama and dance appear less frequently, which may limit the range of interdisciplinary integration.

Unstructured exploration is encouraged throughout the curriculum, such as during Free-Choice Time when children can explore a variety of instruments. These experiences are present, though connections to literacy, math, or science are not consistently made, which may limit cross-curricular integration. Inquiry prompts support exploration, and many lessons include suggestions for incorporating fine arts; however, these are not always accompanied by explicit connections across content areas. Inquiry-based learning is evident (Percussion, p. 34-35) when students investigate how everyday materials (e.g., paper tubes, milk cartons, rocks) can be used to create percussion instruments, supporting exploration, problem-solving, and construction. In contrast, some play-based activities, such as role-playing in a grocery store (p. 16), show fewer connections to the music-focused study,

Materials provide moderate opportunities to use visual arts, music, dance, and drama to support learning in other content areas. There are some Intentional Teaching Experiences aligned to fine arts objectives. For example:

Objective 33 (visual arts) LL13, “Foam Paint Letters” LL32, “Describing Art” LL45, “Observational Drawing” M45, “Picture Patterns” P08, “Cutting With Scissors” P30, “Mixing Paints” P40, “Nature Painting”

Objective 36 (drama) LL06, “Dramatic Story Retelling” LL62, “Retelling Wordless Books” M36, “Fishing Trip”

In Foundation Volume 6: Science and Technology, Social Studies & the Arts, Chapter 8 provides guidance for planning an art program, and Chapter 9 connects arts learning to interest areas and outdoor environments. However, connections between this guidance and the Teaching Guides are not always clearly articulated.

Overall, The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials provide opportunities for artistic expression, with strengths in music and inquiry-based exploration. Fine arts experiences are included across the curriculum and support creativity and expression. However, teacher guidance for integrating fine arts across multiple content areas and for making connections across domains is limited. Opportunities for exploration are included, but a more consistent and intentional approach, along with clearer teacher guidance, would strengthen meaningful connections between fine arts and broader developmental domains.