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Creative Arts in Indiana’s Indiana ELF Framework

How Indiana defines creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development for young children — and how Experience Curriculum helps your program meet every standard indicator.

Indiana ELF-alignedNAEYC & Head Start aligned

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Understanding the standard

What Indiana’s Indiana ELF says about creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development

Indiana’s early learning framework, the Indiana Early Learning Foundations, is the official standards document used by licensed childcare and development programs across the state. Administered by the Indiana Department of Education, the Indiana ELF defines what healthy development looks like for children from birth through kindergarten entry — and creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development is a core domain of that framework.

The Indiana ELF addresses creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development through a set of standards and indicators that capture children’s developmental progress from infancy through kindergarten entry. These indicators are organized to help educators observe, document, and support children’s growth in creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development through intentional, play-based curriculum experiences.

Indiana requires licensed childcare programs to use a curriculum aligned to the Indiana ELF and to document children’s developmental progress across all domains. This documentation informs individualized curriculum planning and is evaluated as part of the Indiana’s Paths to Quality program.

Why it matters

Research from Harvard’s Project Zero and the Dana Foundation’s arts and cognition studies confirms that sustained engagement in creative arts in early childhood develops transferable thinking skills — including divergent thinking, symbolic representation, observation, and self-expression — that predict success across academic domains.

Measure areas address creative expression and symbolic representation

Birth–5

Age range covered by creative arts standards

Skills tracked in the Experience Assessment across all domains

Developmental milestones

Creative Arts milestones by age group

Understanding where children are developmentally helps educators plan meaningful activities and document progress accurately. These milestones align with Indiana’s Indiana ELF indicators and nationally recognized frameworks including NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice and the CDC’s Milestone Moments.

Age group	Key Indiana ELF milestones	What educators can do
Infants Birth–18 months	Responding to music with movement and attention; beginning to explore mark-making materials; imitating facial expressions and vocalizations; sensory exploration of art materials	Sing and play music during routines; offer safe sensory art materials (finger paint, stamps); respond to infant vocalizations musically; provide musical toys and instruments
Toddlers 18–36 months	Scribbling and mark-making with increasing intentionality; beginning to name marks and creations; imitating movements in music; exploring dramatic play scenarios; experimenting with color mixing	Process-art invitations daily; simple instruments and movement music; dramatic play dress-up and props; celebrate the process, not the product
Preschool 3–5 years	Drawing recognizable figures and scenes; explaining artwork with narrative; cooperative dramatic play with complex scenarios; moving expressively to music; creating songs and chants; using art to tell stories	Open-ended art studio with varied media; author/illustrator studies; dramatic play scenarios with complex props; music and movement daily; art displayed with children’s descriptions

Curriculum alignment

How Experience Curriculum supports Indiana’s Indiana ELF Creative Arts standards

Experience Curriculum builds creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development into every monthly theme through intentional, play-based activities aligned to the Indiana ELF. Rather than treating creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development as a separate subject, the curriculum embeds relevant skills into daily activities across every age band — so children are developing across all Indiana ELF indicators throughout the day.

Every Experience Curriculum kit ships with a verified alignment to state early learning standards. The downloadable Experience Curriculum Alignment PDF maps each curriculum activity and skill to the specific standard indicator and developmental level it targets — saving teachers significant documentation time.

Creative Arts skills covered

Visual arts and process-art exploration
Music appreciation and music-making
Creative movement and dance
Dramatic play and role-play
Symbolic representation and mark-making
Creative problem-solving and divergent thinking

How it’s delivered

Monthly kits with process-art materials and invitations included
Music and movement cards with teacher guides
Dramatic play scenario guides and prop suggestions
Open-ended creative exploration prompts
Brightwheel digital documentation tied to state creative development indicators
Family creative arts take-homes for home expression

Research basis

Experience Curriculum’s approach to creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development is grounded in peer-reviewed early childhood research and aligns to NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice guidelines and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework. An independent psychometric evaluation found the linked Experience Assessment exceeds standards for validity and reliability across all eight developmental domains.

Skills spotlight

Key creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development skills in the Experience Curriculum framework

Experience Curriculum’s 35-skill framework maps directly to state standard domains. Here are four skills that feature prominently in every age-band kit and align directly to Indiana’s Indiana ELF indicators.

Visual Arts

Exploring and creating with varied media — paint, clay, collage, drawing tools. Developed through open-ended process-art invitations that prioritize exploration over predetermined outcomes.

Music & Movement

Responding to and creating with sound, rhythm, and movement. Built through daily music and movement activities, instrument exploration, and expressive dance embedded in every theme.

Dramatic Play

Using imagination to create roles, scenarios, and symbolic worlds. Developed through rich dramatic play environments, prop kits, and scenario invitations that deepen with each monthly theme.

Creative Expression

Communicating ideas, feelings, and experiences through multiple art forms. Nurtured through an arts-rich environment, adult encouragement of artistic risk-taking, and celebration of diverse creative approaches.

Implementation guidance

Practical tips for embedding creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development into your Indiana program

1. Prioritize process over product in art

State creative development standards assess the creative process — how children manipulate materials, make intentional choices, and represent ideas — not whether the finished product looks like a model. Remove coloring sheets and model art in favor of open-ended invitations where children make their own decisions.

2. Make music and movement daily

Music is not just an enrichment activity — it develops phonological awareness, mathematical patterning, and physical coordination simultaneously while also supporting creative expression. Experience Curriculum includes music and movement activities in every daily schedule.

3. Create a permanent art studio space

A dedicated art studio — or even a well-stocked art table with rotating materials — gives children the autonomy to engage in creative work on their own schedule. When art materials are always accessible, children use them to process ideas and experiences naturally.

4. Document with the child as narrator

The richest creative arts documentation captures not just what a child made, but what they said about it. Ask “Tell me about your painting” and record the child’s words alongside a photo. This practice documents language, symbolic thinking, and creative expression in a single observation.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about Indiana’s Indiana ELF and creative arts, expression, and aesthetic development curriculum

What are the early learning standards for creative arts?

Creative arts development is addressed in all state early learning frameworks, typically through measures for creative expression and symbolic representation within cognitive development domains. Programs are required to observe and document children’s creative development.

Is Experience Curriculum aligned to creative arts standards?

Yes. Experience Curriculum’s alignment PDFs map each activity, skill, and assessment indicator to the corresponding state standard, including creative arts across all age bands.

How do childcare programs document creative arts development?

Programs document creative arts through observation records — photos, work samples, and brief notes capturing children’s creative process and symbolic thinking. Programs using brightwheel can complete this documentation digitally.

What creative arts activities are appropriate for preschoolers?

Process-art invitations with varied media, music and movement activities, dramatic play with rich props, instrument exploration, and drawing and storytelling. Experience Curriculum integrates all of these into its monthly theme-based kits.

Does Experience Curriculum help with quality rating requirements?

Many childcare programs find that Experience Curriculum supports their state QRIS ratings. We recommend confirming specific requirements with your state’s child care resource and referral agency.