5 Surprising Ways the Performing Arts Benefit Your Pre-K Child

If you have heard that the rules around mobile phones and electronic devices in early childhood settings have changed, you are right. If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, these changes are already in effect.

Here is a plain-English breakdown of what changed, why it happened, and what it means for your family.

Why Did the Laws Change?

The changes were introduced as a child safety measure. In 2025, Australia’s Education Ministers agreed to amend the Education and Care Services National Law to address concerns about the potential for personal devices to be used to capture, store, or transmit images of children in care without authorisation.

The intent is straightforward: children in early learning settings deserve an environment where their privacy and safety are actively protected.

What Changed Nationally

From 27 February 2026, amendments to the national Education and Care Services National Law took effect across Australia. Under these changes, educators and staff who work directly with children are restricted from using personal electronic devices in care settings.

Before this, from 1 September 2025, all early childhood education and care services nationwide were required to have written policies in place addressing the use of digital devices.

What Changed in NSW

NSW moved ahead of the national timeline. The Education and Care Services (Supply, Authorisation and Use of Devices) Order 2025 took effect on 6 November 2025, applying across NSW’s 6,000 or more early learning services, including long day care centres, preschools, and family day care.

Under this order, educators and staff must use service-issued or service-authorised devices rather than their own personal devices when working directly with children.

What Counts as a Personal Device?

The definition is broad. A personal device is any device owned by an individual (not the approved provider) that is capable of capturing, storing, or transmitting an image. This includes:

Mobile phones
Smartwatches
Cameras and tablets
iPads and laptops
Hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards
Wearables such as camera glasses

Who Does the Ban Apply To?

The restrictions apply to anyone working directly with children at a service, including permanent and casual educators, students on placement, volunteers, contractors, and allied health professionals delivering programs on-site.

Parents, carers, and other visitors are not covered by the ban. In NSW, parents and carers remain free to use their personal devices during drop-off, pick-up, centre visits, and events involving their own children. There are also authorised exceptions for essential purposes, including emergencies and health or disability support needs.

What About Screen Time for Children?

These new laws specifically address staff device use, not children’s screen time. Screen time limits for young children are not mandated within childcare regulation at a national level.

The relevant guidance comes from the federal Department of Health and Aged Care’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which recommend no screen time for children under 2 years, and no more than 1 hour per day for children aged 2 to 5 years. These are health guidelines, not regulatory requirements.

What This Means for Your Family

If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, their service is already required to operate under these rules. Any educator or staff member working directly with your child should not be using a personal device to take photos or videos. Only service-authorised devices should be used for that purpose.

If you have questions about how your centre handles digital devices or image capture, you are well within your rights to ask. Most services will have a written policy in place that covers exactly this.

At Clovel, the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is at the heart of everything we do. If you would like to know more about how we support your child across our centres, we would love to have that conversation with you.

It’s easy to appreciate the value of the performing arts as an adult. We’ve all been emotionally moved at some point in our lives thanks to a riveting theater performance or a moving display of vocal acrobatics by one of our favorite singers.

But many are surprised to learn that the benefits of the performing arts are equally important to young children. While the concept may be novel to us, the idea has been around for centuries. In fact, it was famed Greek philosopher Plato who noted…

“I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”

The value of the performing arts—activities like music, dance, singing, and drama performed in front of an audience—to young, developing minds cannot be overstated. That’s why we’ve gathered a list of 5 surprising ways the performing arts benefit your child’s development. Let’s take a look!

1. Increases Empathy

Empathy, or the ability to understand and share the feelings of someone else, is a learned behavior. When taking on the role of another person or singing words related to someone else’s struggle, children are immersed in emotions that are not their own. Through the arts, children can share in the experiences of people from other cultures and customs, learning to recognize differences and similarities in their own lives. This awareness broadens their understanding of the world around them and makes them more sympathetic to the challenges faced by others.

2. Boosts Self-Confidence

It is so important for children to stretch the boundaries of what they think they can do, and there is no better medium for building self-confidence than in the performing arts world.

Even if you’ve never participated in the performing arts, you’ve likely experienced pre-performance jitters when preparing to give a presentation to your professional peers or even just speaking in front of a crowd. Allowing children to experience, work through, and come out the other side of that anxiety at a young age is a tremendous life skill that will increase their self-confidence and serve them well throughout their educational careers and their adult lives.

3. Improves Self-Expression

If you’re struggling to wrap your mind around the meaning of self-expression, think of a film you enjoy that has had multiple adaptations. For example, Hamlet has been on the big screen several times, but the performance given by Laurence Olivier is quite different from that of Christopher Plummer…which is markedly different from Kenneth Branagh…even though the material is the same. The difference comes from each actor expressing a bit of themselves through the work, and that interpretation of emotion is a skill children can hone through the arts.

Learning what emotion they are experiencing and how to express it in a healthy way is challenging for anyone, especially children. Acting, singing, and dancing, are safe spaces where children can freely explore the emotions art naturally conjures up and express them in a way that is entirely unique to them.

4. Boosts Collaboration

When an orchestra performs, there must be a team mentality. The horns won’t sound as good if the woodwinds are pitchy or the drum section is offbeat. And the same is true for the performers in a play or for singers in a choir.

Participating in performing arts teaches children how to work collaboratively and in a way that everyone is working for the greater good of the group. Working in a group environment teaches children that each part is valuable to the collective whole that is the overall performance.

5. Supports Academic Achievement

Recent research indicates that exposure to the arts is linked to better academic achievement, both in the year the arts participation takes place and in later academic years.

This may be due, in part, to the fact that a child’s listening skills improve as they learn to take instruction from stage directors, music conductors, dance teachers, and others in positions of leadership. As they work to attend, they are building concentration and memory skills that can be used in academic study.

A Few Final Tips

You may be wondering how to get your little learner interested in the performing arts. Here are a few tips:

Take them to arts productions—go to the theater, musical productions, concerts, and other events to show them how amazing the performing arts can be.
Let your child take the lead—if your little one has a clear preference for singing, dancing, learning an instrument, or acting, sign them up for lessons. It will be much easier to grow their enthusiasm if it’s an art form they already love.
Be their cheerleader—celebrate participation on any level! They don’t have to be the featured singer or lead in the play to enjoy the benefits of the performing arts.

Thanks for reading,
Clovel Childcare
1300 863 986

Lyn Connolly

Founder and Company Director

Lyn Connolly is the Founder and Company Director of Clovel Childcare & Early Learning Centres, a family‑owned group of eight centres across Western Sydney established from her first service at Merrylands. Active in early childhood education since 1977, she also serves as President of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW, representing providers in state and federal consultations, media, and public hearings.

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