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Often, we look past the arts as we deem that skill not essential at all - instead, it is a waste of time and should not even be looked upon - at least, that was my perception of art.
However, that is not the case! Aesthetic development is equally important, too - Art has multiple benefits that can help the child's development!
But why must we bring our child to the nearest museum?
According to research, creating a diverse artistic environment and, at the same time allowing autonomy can help build a rich and engaging art education! An environment like the art museum can provide that! Such education is crucial and helps develop their aesthetic awareness, artistic skills, and even cognitive functioning like imagination, creativity, analytical thinking and many more!
Other research also identified that four possible learning could take place in a setting like an art museum. So what are the four possible learning?
Aesthetic learning
Art museums serve this purpose - the raw and legitimate art pieces and sculptures in an art museum can help children to appreciate art more and ignite their visual appetite for art. As most children in this age are used to being engaged with all sorts of electronic devices, having a rare trip to the art museum can help children to interact with something in real life, such as the artefacts in the museum! Such actions can also promote wonder and enhances the curiosity of the child.
What's more? According to research, young children could already appreciate art! With that possibility, why not foster it? Exposing them to real art in an art museum can enable them not only to voice out their preferences of art but also help children to identify and be competent with the various technicalities like the vocabularies of the elements of art and even specific art terms! Further research also mentioned that such ability coherency in language regarding the arts is crucial in developing children's inference skills from visual arts!
Cognitive and Kinaesthetic learning
We all know the meaning of cognitive - that is, stuff concerning the brain. But what is kinesthetic? Well, kinaesthetic means learning through physical activities rather than sitting in a usual lecture.
But you may ask - do museums provide any kinaesthetic learning? After all, museums are all about galleries and galleries worth of art.
Well, you may be surprised, but more museums are rolling out more educational programmes within their museums for children to be exposed to the arts with the help of kinaesthetic learning - to make things interesting, of course. Just check your local museum near you if they provide any educational programmes for young children!
Because let's be honest, if we adults are not interested in museums (unless you are some art connoisseur), what makes you think our children will be interested too?
Such programmes provided by museums are beneficial! Research cited by Terreni that given such opportunity to children, the things that the children interacted with their senses in the museums will help activate their thought process, allowing them to think about their experiences. It may even help them recreate their experiences through art and words! Such behaviour is called symbolic thinking, one of the milestones for children aged three and above!
Furthermore, having objects provided to children in a museum to manipulate, like a paintbrush or canvas, can help them lead to unexpected discoveries! It will give them a sense of achievement and adventure as they manipulate the objects in their hands! Moreover, it will also help improve their fine motor skills too!
Affective Learning
This learning is tapping into the children's emotional reactions to artwork, given how they are extraordinarily sensorial and candid with their emotions. Such behaviour will create the perfect dialogue and opportunity for them to discuss what they have liked and disliked about artworks in a museum!
Moreover, many arts use various artistic domains like lines, colours and even textures to display emotions. For example, a particular stroke of paint may invoke a sense of danger, or a specific texture may invoke a sense of a bustling and vibrant atmosphere. Just tapping into the children's emotions will give them another chance to discuss why it makes them feel what they feel through the elements of art and also allow them to learn how they can display their emotions candidly through art!
Social and cultural learning
Art museums worldwide are all intentional in their creation to reflect the diverse and cultural communities the children live in! As a result, visits to the museum can help them to engage in respectful and reciprocal bonds with the community that they live in, as they are exposed to their unique community through art objects. This will also enable them to learn about facts, history and other new knowledge about the community in which they reside! It will also help them gain new perspectives on their community and learn about the vast array of cultures within their community!
There are countless possible learning experiences with so many benefits just from a visit to a museum. A visit to an art museum is infrequent for children and adults too! Maybe the learning mentioned above can not only benefit your child but also benefit you as a parent too!
So, what are you waiting for? Plan a trip to the nearest art museum today!
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