In this theoretical article, we present, argue for, and illustrate a conception of early childhood arts education, centred on the notions of "synaesthesia" and "transduction". The empirical illustrations come from three different activities where teachers and children (aged 4-8 years) are engaged in music-listening, playing drums and a sound-making activity. In all three cases transducing activities appear, in the study referred to as "weak synaesthesia", which is considered basic to arts education. The theoretical framework for the paper consists of the closely related strands of theorising that is social-semiotics and sociocultural psychology. What the proposed notion of arts education is characterised by and how it plays out in a concrete sense in educational practices as well as the teacher's role in this education are discussed. A notion of early childhood arts education as the cultivation of synesthetic transduction is proposed.