Purpose: The purpose of this article is to summarise key literature related to the Foundation for Learning and Literacy's Touchstone 4 (creativity, the arts and imagination). Design/methodology/approach: This article reviews a selection of relevant studies exploring the contributions of creativity, imagination and the arts to traditional literacy learning. The existing literature has been synthesised and summarised to provide readers with a broad understanding of the evidence supporting Touchstone 4. Findings: The literature review reveals that all five arts subjects, along with creativity and imagination, contribute positively to students' literacy learning. Each arts subject enhances and extends different aspects of conventional literacy skills -- such as reading, writing, viewing, speaking and listening -- while fostering the development of multiliteracies. Originality/value: This article uniquely summarises existing research on the arts, creativity and imagination, highlighting how each area supports literacy development in school students.