Introducing Your Child to the Arts: Your Child and the Visual Arts (continued)

Encounters with Art in the Everyday World

Art is a natural part of our world. Explore art with your child by focusing on your child’s interests as well as his or her aesthetic and intellectual abilities. Find opportunities that encourage your child to:

• Find art in the everyday world (calendars, book illustrations, paintings in the home,murals in libraries, elements in architecture, design of ornamental gardens, monuments, and sculpture). Play a game when traveling in which your child searches for artworks in the environment.
• Visit a library or bookstore. The librarian or bookstore clerk can identify books honored for their outstanding illustrations.
• Look for patterns in the visual world (identify shapes or patterns formed by artistic elements in buildings) or search for similarities or differences in common objects.
• Talk about artwork by describing actual works of art. Most young viewers relate a possible story that comes from the image. Other ways to talk about art include exploration of line, shape, color, and texture.
• Make up a story that is related to the content of the artwork (for example, pretend to be a character in a painting and tell what is happening).
• Express personal ideas and feelings about individual works of art. Value your child’s perspective.
• Recognize art as an important aspect of life that represents different places and different cultures around the world. Art offers children a worldview.

Share and enjoy art with your child. Read about, look at, and talk about works of art that you encounter. Conversations should be casual, not like a test or lecture. Expose your child to art from different cultures and times in history. Encourage your child to talk about works of art by making comparisons, finding similarities, and identifying differences.

Museums, Galleries, and Art Centers

Museums house cultural artifacts, natural specimens, and works of art that all have visual attributes. Children enjoy looking at and talking about these objects by drawing parallels to their own lives and experiences. There are many wonderful books that introduce museums and encourage children to think about their role in the world.

A successful trip to a museum requires some thought and planning in advance, but the rewards will be well worth the time invested. The museum visit should build on specific interests of your child. Kids enamored with collecting bugs in the backyard will probably be interested in collections of insects at a science museum or a nature center to learn more about these unusual creatures. A budding interest in ballet expressed by a young child taking dance lessons might suggest a visit to an art museum to see paintings and sculptures of dancers. Whatever the preference, it is important to select exhibits or works of art that have a common idea or theme for your tour.

A visit to a museum should be fun and inspiring! Beyond planning your visit with your child’s interests in mind, remember that selecting a few pertinent exhibits or galleries is typically more effective than touring the entire museum.Value your child’s responses. It is likely that your child will show an interest in something not included in your plans.When you demonstrate respect for your child’s point of view, you enhance your child’s overall experience and attitude about museums.

Museums have different types of presentations. Look for interactive exhibits, special tours or programs designed for young children, and publications that offer suggestions that relate to specific exhibits. Family guides often highlight exhibits that appeal to the young visitor as well as suggest activities for engaging the child in a meaningful encounter with the art.