The Role of Arts & Culture in Childhood Development

Exposure to the arts and culture boosts learning and achievement for students and teaching creativity develops critical thinking skills, engages students, and fosters innovation and success. There’s actually a handful of lasting effects Arts and culture can play in the lives of your children:

  • Early childhood arts education improves vocabulary, communication, memory, and social-emotional development in young children 
  • Music training increases brain and cognitive development in three- to five-year-old children 
  • Students in high-quality school music programs score higher on standardized tests 
  • High arts involvement among disadvantaged students is related to finding better jobs, earning degrees, and volunteering

How to Get Your Kids Involved

Roanoke Arts and Culture community offers a lot of ways to get your kids involved, and most likely, it will be something they are already interested in exploring. Here are some of our favorites:

1. The Living River Exhibit at the Science Museum of Western Virginia

2. Weekly Art Classes at the Taubman Museum of Art

Children painting during art class in Roanoke

3. The Roanoke Children’s Theatre

Roanoke Childrens theatre

4. The Roanoke Valley’s Children Choir

Roanoke's children choir at DC

5. The Roanoke Pinball Museum

pinball

Happy exploring!

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