In a time of seemingly rampant budget cuts in the arts in school systems throughout the country, a children's art show reaps many rewards. It can strengthen family-school relationships and community ties and stimulate questions and comments about the benefits of art and its significance in the development of young children. In this photo essay of…

In Kathleen Loomis's preschool classroom at the Bennington College Early Childhood Center, the goal for children is not to produce beautiful and expressive artworks or to learn specific methods of working with art media--although those things do happen. Here, the curriculum is built around the philosophy that learning to think and create with art…