This study purports to investigate the effects of performance art activity on the increase of creativity and self-expression in withdrawn young children. The performance art activity is a newly developed teaching method by playing with children using various kinds of art materials, which makes it more dynamic compared to the traditional art teaching.
Examined through the study are 8 six-year-old children who attend M kindergarten located in western Gwang-ju. They were selected because they, among 30 peers, showed a high degree of withdrawn state in K-CBLC(Korean-Child Behavior checklist) test.
This 8 youngsters have been divided into the experimental group and the contrast group with 4 members in each group.
The experimental program was operated for 50 minutes a time, once a week, 12 times in total.
As research tools, the K-CBCL and the K-FCTYC(Korean Figural Creativity for Young Children) have been used. Major findings from this study are as below:
First, performance art activity increased children's positive reaction gradually and decrease withdrawn response by slow degrees.
Second, the children showed noticeable improvement in their creativity after attending the performance art program.
Third, enhanced self-expression helped the children build successful and positive relationship with their peers.
In conclusion, performance art activity apparently brings positive effects on creativity, self-expression and pride in withdrawn young children.