Can we play again with Picasso Miss? The effects of the arts in children’s involvement during literacy activities in the Early Years Settings: A case study in the Greek context

Involvement is the cornerstone of the educational process, especially in the early years settings. It is a fundamental factor in people’s actions particularly when they are deeply concentrated in an activity. However, little research has been conducted in the early years settings, with focus on teaching and learning. This piece of research investigates the effects of the arts as a means to promote children’s involvement during literacy activities. This was based on the hypothesis that the arts provide opportunities to children to participate actively. The participants were from a case study of an early years setting in Greece, with 18 children and their average age was 5,2 years old. The research procedure was based on the “Play and Learn through the Arts” programme, which was an interdisciplinary programme that was designed for a PhD project. Children’s involvement was measured with Leuven Involvement Scale for Young Children (LIS-YC) and it was further examined with a semi structured interview to the head teacher of the class. The findings show that the data collected from both measures verifies the research’s hypothesis about the beneficial effect of the arts on children’s involvement during literacy activities. These findings should be treated carefully in terms of generalising them, as they derived from a case study. This research could be useful to early years educators as a pioneering approach in early literacy.