In the two and a half years the Orchard family has lived in St. Louis, Mo., one of their favorite haunts has been COCA , the Center of Creative Arts, which focuses on arts education for children as young as 9 months. Lily and Ethan Orchard have both taken movement and art classes that involve a range of cultures and disciplines. Their mom, Betsy, loves not only that she's cultivating a love and appreciation of the arts, but also that she's providing a diverse learning experience for her children.

Arts education for very young children isn't about making sure they recognize a Mozart concerto or a Monet masterpiece by the time they're in elementary school. Rather, it's about helping them discover and release their own delight in the joy of the creative arts.

Anna Reyner, a Los Angeles-based art therapist and author of Smart Art Ideas, says it's also about helping them learn to express themselves. "Very young children don't have a lot of verbal skills, and art is a means of communication for them," she says. "Even when they become more verbal, art can help them explain the complexity of their world. It's a perfect way to express their feelings."

Debbie Harris, a creative movement teacher at COCA who has a background in both early child education and modern dance, says she has children in her classes who can't even talk yet but communicate amazingly well through movement. "Arts education should be about who am I now and who am I becoming," says Harris. "It helps a child own all parts of herself."

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