Expressive arts and design is one of the four specific areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Expressive Arts and Design involves supporting children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas, and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

In the EYFS framework, Expressive Arts and Design is made up of two aspects: Creating with Materials and Being Imaginative and Expressive

Creating with Materials

Children at the expected level of development will:

– Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function;

– Share their creations, explaining the process they have used;

– Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

Being Imaginative and Expressive

Children at the expected level of development will:

– Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher;

– Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs; Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music.