Teaching emotion and creativity skills through art : A workshop for children

Abstract

This paper reports on the development and initial validation of a workshop teaching emotion skills (perceiving, using and understanding emotions) and creativity skills (problem finding and idea generation) through engagement with the visual arts to children ages 6-12 years old. After completing the six-session workshop, children showed greater knowledge of how emotions can be used to facilitate thinking and behavior in everyday life scenarios, and reported being less likely to settle on their first idea when making art. Children positively evaluated their experiences in the workshop and indicated interest in similar art-based learning opportunities in the future.