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YiLi Art

Let creativity grow
in the real world

A global pioneer of immersive, real-world art education. YiLi Art nurtures artistic thinking and creativity in children aged 1.5–8. Grounded in real settings, real materials and real experiences, we bring nature, the humanities, technology, design and everyday life into the art classroom, so that children come to sense and understand the real world through all five senses, active exploration and free creation.

We don’t judge art education by whether a drawing “looks real,” and we don’t hand out one right answer. Rather than teaching children to finish a picture, we care about how they observe, how they think, how they form ideas of their own — and how they express those ideas in a way that is truly theirs.

We believe every child comes into this world already carrying creativity.

I Believe. I Create.

About YiLi Art

In 2020, YiLi Art was born in Beijing

Before designing a single course, we asked ourselves a question: why does almost every child love to draw, yet so many of us grow up saying “I can’t draw”?

What we found is that children never lose their creativity — they lose the courage to express it. Because in this world, someone is always in a hurry to tell them what is right, and what counts as beautiful.

So we chose a different path. We brought the real world into the classroom. Forests, starry skies, oceans, technology, outer space, light and shadow… every themed space comes from real life, and every material is worth exploring with their own hands.

Here, children don’t create just to finish a piece of work. By observing, touching, asking, experimenting and expressing, they get to know the world anew — and themselves as well.

Our teachers don’t demonstrate a model answer. We would much rather kneel down and listen to each child’s one-of-a-kind ideas.

Over the years, we have kept developing original curricula and teaching methods made for children. From perception, materials and space to the humanities, nature, technology and design, we hope art becomes more than a skill to learn — a way for children to understand the world.

We are not raising little painters. What we protect is a child’s courage to imagine, to try, to express, and to be different.

About Our Spaces

The classroom is where children first explore the world

In every themed immersive space, we use real environments, real materials and real experiences to fully engage sight, hearing, touch, smell and more.

Children think by asking questions, discover by exploring, understand by doing, and express themselves by creating.

A child inside an immersive themed space

Our educational goals

What we nurture goes beyond artistic skill

  • Originality

    We encourage children to come up with their own ideas instead of looking for the standard answer.

  • Independent Taste

    Children build their own judgment and expression instead of copying other people’s work.

  • Lasting Curiosity

    We protect their passion for exploring the world, so learning always grows out of interest.

  • Confident Expression

    Children believe their ideas deserve to be seen, and bravely express who they really are.

A child absorbed in making art in class

About Our Philosophy

What matters more than the artwork is the growth taking place

We care not only about what kind of piece a child finishes, but about whether they went through the whole process of observing, thinking, trying, revising and creating.

Every moment of hesitation, every fresh start, every new discovery is more worth treasuring than the final picture. Because what truly grows is never the artwork — it’s the child.

A child in the middle of creating

Our Curriculum

Built around the many ways children come to know the world, our seven original curricula connect art with nature, technology and everyday life across disciplines — so that creativity keeps growing through real experience.

  • A class exploring the “Perception” dimension

    Perception

    Building five-sense experience and the ability to observe.

  • A class exploring the “Materials” dimension

    Materials

    Exploring what materials can do, sparking creative expression.

  • A class exploring the “Space” dimension

    Space

    Understanding structure, scale and spatial relationships.

  • A class exploring the “Humanities” dimension

    Humanities

    Paying attention to how culture, society and people connect.

  • A class exploring the “Nature” dimension

    Nature

    Finding patterns and inspiration in nature.

  • A class exploring the “Technology” dimension

    Technology

    Exploring scientific principles and future-minded thinking.

  • A class exploring the “Design” dimension

    Design

    Bringing knowledge together to create independently.