Developing children's artistic sense

Developing children's artistic sense

I still remember that summer when my son joined a distinguished summer club. His activities focused on memorizing the Qur’an and performing high-level artistic works. He was 4 years old at the time, and even now, at the age of sixteen, he still preserves a number of his works that he executed in that center. Focusing on the arts and the fun, self-expression, and sense of accomplishment and appreciation it entails had a significant impact on children’s good response and interest in memorizing.

Children learn a number of life skills through the arts. Although artistic activities appear to be a kind of amusement and enjoyment, and they are in fact so, they carry within them rich learning. Among the skills that children learn through the arts is the skill of solving problems. When they practice the arts, they experience... They are given a number of possibilities to reach the best of them. They also learn to express themselves, and acquire the skill of self-entertainment (and how many children lack this trait and always demand that others entertain and entertain them). They also learn the skills of communicating with others, cooperating with them, and paying attention to their opinions by displaying their work. On others and listening to their comments, they also learn the psychological skills of perseverance by continuing to perform the artistic work until its end, and they learn mastery as they try to improve their drawing or artistic work and choose its colors. Scientists have looked at these benefits that children can be raised with, and they gain them in a much loved way. Of skills and values, they stressed the importance of caring for art and developing the artistic sense. Some of them even considered the arts to be no less important than language in the growth and learning of individuals.

The artistic sense is one of the characteristics unique to humans, and appreciation and interest in art was one of the first aspects that emerged in civilizations throughout history, where fine art was given a high aesthetic and expressive value, starting with drawing in caves and on shells and skins, and today we find it a subject of great interest in countries. Advanced, as they realized that behind every wonderful architectural design, a harmonious garden, a unique linguistic formulation, an attractive advertisement, and behind every creative idea. If we look around us, we will find the fingerprints of art in front of us everywhere, even in our offices, our electronic devices, and on the pages of our websites.

Although the artistic sense is an authentic human characteristic, and is greatly influenced by the inclinations and tendencies of the individual, the environment plays a major role in developing and encouraging it. We have been preoccupied with communication devices and types of technologies, and we and our children no longer open our eyes to the universe and its wonders and beauties, which are the first inspirations for art. Exposure to beauty and interaction with it are considered two essential steps in developing artistic skills. There is also a close relationship between the feeling of beauty and its expression and the worship of contemplation that our religion encourages. If this worship becomes an important part of a Muslim’s life and he works to awaken his heart to perform it as an act of worship to God and to refine the soul, then It would refine his feelings and nourish the sources of goodness within himself. Below is a breakdown of how to be exposed to and interact with beauty, which stimulates the artistic sense and is considered practical training in the worship of contemplation:

First: Exposure to beauty: Exposure is not difficult, as beauty is present in front of us in everything, and all we have to do is look at what exists in another way, to look at everything to know the beauty and art contained in it, and to listen and feel the responses it arouses in our senses.

Second: Interacting with beauty: We have to follow our innate way of using verbal expression to enhance observations and deal with them. We can start through the scenes of our daily lives, “The sky does not look the same every day. The colors in the twilight are not the same every day. Humidity factors “Dust affects the colors and makes them appear unique every day. The view of the night sky is not the same every night. The stars may appear clear and the cloud formations may give a distinct appearance every time.” Instead of seeing a sky, clouds, or moon, you see art.

Then we move on to discussing what we see through: questioning, commenting, showing interest and enthusiasm. Every time we are outside with our children, we talk about what we see. “Glory be to God. Don’t you see the clouds in front of the sun, how beautiful they are? I like the radiant edges, how they look in contrast to the dark interior part.” It makes each cloud an entity independent of the other clouds... What do you think of this view, my son? “I like the shapes and colors of the clouds. Do you like them? There are shades of gray and there are overlapping layers of clouds.”

“The sky looks calm in color today. It looks different from the bright blue that we saw yesterday.” “Today the sun’s rays are acquiring a distinctive color due to dust plankton. They appear to be yellow and orange. How strange is this richness of colors that appears in nature.” "It's nice to go out for a walk. It's like walking into a landscape."

Here we have stimulated art in the souls of our children and drawn their attention to the subtleties of God’s creation, so they acquire an unusual view of existing things. We have also achieved interaction with what they see in nature, and we must not forget the beauty in sounds, sensations, and smells, the chirping of birds at sunrise and sunset. “Awesome.” How the number of songbirds increases the closer we get to Morocco, the smell of plants, flowers and rain, the sounds of night grasshoppers, the feel of roses and soft skin.

If we achieve exposure to beauty and interaction with it and work to connect phenomena in a way that arouses their interests, we will have set our feet on the broadest ways of developing the artistic sense. In order for children to respond better, it is important to move out of the framework of the traditional color box to the brush and other types, and to link drawing with what they have previously seen. Among the beauties of nature, art is not only a beauty that we explore, but a feeling that generates creativity in the idea and beauty in the design. This takes time, but it is an important way to stimulate artistic feeling.

The most prominent methods for developing children's artistic sense can be identified as follows:

• Early start: If the child enjoys the first artistic experiences, he loves them and is keen to repeat them.

• Availability of artistic tools on a regular basis: It is important to maintain a renewed and varied quantity of tools, such as types of colors, types of paper, and artistic supplies appropriate to the interests of children. Some parents are interested and bring the best tools for their children, but without sharing, and thus they lose the most important elements of support.

• Allocate time for the child to participate in an art session (for example, twice a week) to enhance his artistic steps: “I like that you chose these two colors together.” “You draw the car skillfully.” Integrate with the children. People are excited, happy, and happy to share with others, and the best role parents play is the role of participants. Without direct guidance.

• Watch clips of lessons in drawing or artwork online, appropriate to the age and inclinations of the children.

• Enhancing the artistic works made by children, by expressing admiration in an appropriate, not exaggerated, way. Excessive admiration leads to a false sense of pride and an inflated ego in the son. It is also necessary to avoid criticism and work to guide the children to the correct method of artistic performance and correct mistakes without following the method of direct criticism.

• Preserving the child’s individuality and his own style of expressing what he sees of natural phenomena and enabling him to use the colors he saw in nature in the way he sees it. It is not desirable to turn art into an activity that everyone does, as in the classroom.

This role is supposed to be played by the family and reinforced by schools, but our schools focus on excellence in mathematics, science, and language and consider art a luxury that does not require attention. So we have to teach our children what the schools did not teach them? Through our focus on contemplating the beauties of the universe and linking them to God’s power and the marvelous creation of Him, the artistic and aesthetic sense grows and our children learn the worship of contemplation.

Dr.. Sahar bint Abdul Latif Kurdi

Family and child counselor