I can't remember back that far.
I remember really enjoying art in middle school, however.
Actually, I do remember finger painting in first grade, and enjoying it. I remember doing colors and black paint over the top, and when we used our fingers, we saw the colors underneath. I also remember doing some craft type things for holidays. But in general I don't remember art being a big thing until middle school, where we did a lot of different things in art and also did fun stuff in industrial arts.
My daughter's school has a parent run art program that they fundraise for with a silent auction of donated items and art items the classes make. This year the art portion of the silent auction brought in over $7000. The arts budget, as far as I know, is completely funded by the PFA.
There are always a few dedicated parents who basically plan out all the art lessons, and they have different curriculums they can pull ideas from, or just do whatever seems cool at the time. We have a kiln, so clay is a big deal. One thing that always seems to be a hit is making tiny clay pumpkins and getting big leaves and using those to cut out clay leaves, which they can glaze in a variety of ways.
Apparently in the past, what some of the parents did is actually dress like the artists for whatever style they were learning about that time, and some of them were really good at getting into character. So I think that helped to spur the interest in some children. Every year the school has an Art BBQ luncheon where parents come and have lunch with the kids and all the art is set out, and the parents can walk around and check it all out. The kids get excited about showing their pieces.
As far as music goes, my kids' school does have a music teacher, and she teaches band and string instruments to the older children, and does music classes with all the different grades. They usually do a winter and a spring program, although it seems like the younger grades do Christmas and the older grades do spring. They do a program that involves group songs, but there are also some spoken parts which the older kids get to do.
I enjoyed getting to learn and play an instrument, but I also just really enjoyed learning songs and learning about music when I was in the lower grades. Oh, and I was so excited to get my own recorder and start learning that.
