Integrating the arts into head start classrooms produces positive impacts on kindergarten readiness

Arts enrichment may provide important opportunities for the development of pre-academic skills, since much of what young children do as play, including singing, drawing, and dancing, engages the senses and primes the brain for learning. The Wolf Trap's Early Learning Through the Arts program, a national program that is designed to integrate performing arts into the early childhood education (ECE) curriculum and provide instructional training on delivery strategies, is an exemplar program that provides this type of experiential learning; and program implementation and teacher training approaches vary for each individualized program.