Why Your Children Should Experience Theater

Why Your Children Should Experience Theater

Childhood is a time of imagination and wonder. Especially in an area so saturated with beauty like Asheville, children see the world around them much less how it is and more as it should be. For parents and adults, our role is to facilitate the space for their innocence. We can fuel their creativity in many ways:

  • Encouraging unstructured outdoor time
  • Limiting television and screen time
  • Allow children space to paint and craft
  • Taking kids on family hikes that explore vast open views, thick forests, rolling rivers, and majestic waterfalls
  • Reading books with our children 

The theater is centered on wonder and imagination. We cannot stress enough how often we have seen theater help our students come alive. Here are 7 reasons we recommend exposing children to theater.

 

7 Reasons to Expose Children to Theater

1) Theater Is Exciting

Whether watching or participating in theater, it is exciting for children. 

  • Watching: Even young children will find themselves enthralled with the excitement of a show like the Lion King. Whereas television often encourages your child to turn off their imagination, theater draws them in, making them feel like part of the show. 
  • Participating: For children who participate in theater, there is no excitement quite like putting their hard work and practice on the stage for all to see. There is no time for boredom when you are acting out a beloved play. 

2) Theater Instills Appreciation for the Arts

Whether your children are watching or participating in theater, they will learn to love the arts. 

  • Watching: We need art. In the past year, we have seen that truth in action more than ever. When the world shut down, we all turned to art to help us get through it all. Watching theater will teach children the importance of art far more than a class or lecture could. 
  • Participating: When your child participates in theater, they have an opportunity to become the artist. How much more will they appreciate the importance of the arts? 

3) Theater Connects Children With History

Whether your children are in the audience or on stage, theater can help them connect to history. 

  • Watching: Many shows are period pieces or deal with weighty historical content. Yet, they are often presented in a palatable manner for a young child. As they watch and re-watch their favorite shows, they will only grow increasingly aware of their historical significance.
  • Participating: One of the most common complaints from children regarding history lessons is that the past is disconnected from their present and future. How much more will they be able to connect with history when they are becoming historical figures on stage?

4) Theater Helps Build a Child's Courage

Whether your children are watching the who or they are part of it, they can gain valuable courage. 

  • Watching: Theater provides the platform for your children to watch characters overcome their fears. It also allows your children to see their friends overcome stage fright. 
  • Participating: When your child overcomes stage fright to perform their character in front of their friends, family, and strangers, they will feel like they can do anything. 

5) Theater Can Teach Powerful Lessons

Whether they are observing or acting, they are gaining important lessons. 

  • Watching: One of the best ways to learn valuable lessons is through the arts. Your child may never realize how much they are learning as they enjoy watching shows with you.
  • Participating: How much better will a child learn when they can actually act as the one teaching the lessons?

6) Theater Will Foster Imagination

Whether they watch or act, theater will spark their imagination. 

  • Watching: Theater is filled with wonder and imagination. Watching it can only help your child continue to use their precious creativity. 
  • Participating: What is more imaginative than acting? By participating in theater, your child will essentially become someone else as they perform on stage. Theater is a powerful way to foster a child's imagination. 

7) Theater Can Impact a Child's Future

Whether you and your child are among the audience or they take the stage, exposure to theater may set them on a course for their future. 

  • Watching: We need more artists. As your child watches theater, they may be witnessing their own future as a performing artist. 
  • Participating: The world is wide open for a child. Exposing your child to theater may spark something in them they can pursue into the future. Whether as a creative outlet or future career, allowing them to participate in theater while they are young could be the start of something special. 

This list barely scratches the surface of the lengthy list of benefits for children exposed to theater. The Asheville Performing Arts Academy facilitates a life-long appreciation and advocacy of the arts by providing a loving community where students discover the tools needed to navigate life on and off the stage. 

We are enrolling now for summer camps and all of our programs. Please get in touch with us for more information about how your child can grow from experiencing theater. 

Looking for more ideas on how to bring this home? Read our article, Creative Ideas for Entertaining Your Kids When Stuck at Home.

back to top