Visual arts participation and young children’s social emotional wellbeing: a scoping review

Abstract

This scoping review examines the prevalence of visual art participation in studies of young children’s social emotional wellbeing. Systematic reviews were identified through a search of two databases, grey literature, and reference lists. 22 reviews contained at least one study of visual art participation in children 0–9 years. Ten of these were analysed in a subset of visual art participation in children 0–5 years. The studies therein were primarily delivered by art therapists, with associated scaffolding. Other studies involved performing arts or mixed artforms. A knowledge gap has been identified which the authors will address with a systematic review.