Presentation – CVC2026-687

The potential of visual arts in supporting young children’s sustainability understandings

Ljiljana Ferguson, TAFE NSW Higher Education, Australia

Background: The arts are among the oldest and most fundamental forms of personal, cultural expression and communication. Besides their role in preserving cultural identity and facilitating meaning-making, the arts can also provide novel perspectives in exploring complex sustainability issues. This is particularly relevant today due to increasing environmental crises, including climate change, pollution, and the loss of biological diversity. Children are inheriting these environmental challenges, and the arts can provide novel perspectives and languages through which they can explore sustainability by making art and responding to it.

Aim: This literature review included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies to examine how arts-based pedagogies are used in early childhood for teaching sustainability.

Method/approach: Peer-reviewed journal articles published in English and indexed in Scopus, ERIC, or Web of Science were included in this literature review; book chapters and books related to the search question or keywords were also considered.

Results/findings: The reviewed literature indicates that arts-based pedagogies provide an important contribution to early childhood sustainability education. However, the field remains relatively small, with much of the evidence derived from qualitative case studies.

Conclusion: Research interest in this field is increasing; however, the evidence remains relatively limited. Arts-based pedagogies need to be embraced as part of a transformative early childhood curriculum, since the arts make children’s sustainability learning visible in profoundly expressive ways.

Implications for children and families: The arts are a powerful incentive for children to learn about themselves and their place in the world.

Implications for practitioners: The intersection of sustainability and art-based pedagogies can offer a deeper understanding of the pedagogical benefits for early childhood curriculum decisions and practices.

Keywords: visual arts, sustainability, early childhood education, young children, materials, found object

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: