Discusses the artistic characteristics of children ages two through six years and the culturally endorsed shift of emphasis from symbolic play to technical mastery during the course of their artistic development. Reviews teaching practices, educational resources, and teacher training in schools in Australia and the People's Republic of China in…

Argues that the arts provide a powerful means with which to promote future-oriented learning because they involve nonverbal, symbolic ways of knowing, thinking and communicating. Suggests that the arts in the emergent curriculum promote central education skills of discovery, pursuit, self-awareness, personal communication, social interaction,…