Picking up a paint brush, learning to play guitar, and designing your own robot all sound like fun hobbies for kids. But in the right environment, creative activities can also expand a child’s learning and development profoundly.

Encouraging creativity may not make a child the next Picasso or Mozart, but it can do a lot of good for a young, developing brain. In a recent case study published by the Journal of Research in Childhood Education, researchers found that studying drama in a specialised classroom had a larger impact on children’s learning compared to learning drama in a regular classroom.

For nine weeks, the researcher observed drama classes for kindergarten and first grade classes taught by a drama specialist, in addition to conducting observations in ordinary kindergarten and grade one classrooms to see how regular teachers taught drama. In the drama teacher’s lessons, children’s body movements were larger, explorative, and representative, often involving pantomime, improvisation, brainstorming, observations and verbalisation; whereas in regular classrooms, children were restricted to smaller, purposeful movements.

While the study is limited to examining one drama specialist, its findings show how specialised creative arts classes can boost a child’s development. At an early age, such creative programs can help kids expand their vocabulary and imagination, while also broadening their minds to think divergently and consider a range of responses, rather than just one right answer.

“In a normal classroom, especially a more traditional classroom, learning is much more teacher-focused. A teacher has all the knowledge and information, and passes it on to the student. The system is much more about memory than encouraging creativity,” says Ben Denton, education director of JZ School, which offers music, choir, musical theatre, ballet and other creative arts classes for kids as young as two. “But in arts and music classes, lessons don’t follow such a strict curriculum – the teacher has the freedom to adapt it to students.”