Aesthetic education is implemented at every stage of personal development. It becomes more effective the earlier the child enters the sphere of targeted aesthetic influence, which should be uniform and combine all activities, any aspects of his life.
The aesthetic education system is aimed at:
- Creating in children a set of elementary knowledge and impressions, on the basis of which an interest in aesthetic phenomena and artistic objects is formed.
- Development of abilities for aesthetic experiences, formation of personality qualities that will allow one to appreciate highly artistic objects and phenomena and provide the opportunity to enjoy their contemplation and possession.
- Awakening creative abilities in students. An aesthetically developed personality becomes an active creator, trying to bring his life and everything that surrounds him into submission to the learned canons of beauty.
The main wealth for society is a creative personality
In everyday work, in everyday life, and in communication, adults and children encounter aesthetic phenomena. There is beauty and ugliness everywhere. It has a tragic and comic influence on different areas of life. Beauty pleases, stimulates activity, ugliness repels. Comic phenomena help you see shortcomings, tragic phenomena make you sympathize.
Aesthetic education opens the child’s soul to new forms, sounds, colors, helps a deeper understanding of the world, and promotes harmonious development and self-discovery. Developed creative thinking contributes to the search for new ways, including in the field of science, economics, and production.
The tasks of society bring to the fore new demands on people. Since it becomes the main component of the productive forces, it must be fully developed. It is impossible to educate a creative person who has the need for creative activity without the efforts of society and policies specifically aimed at this. Therefore, the most important means of qualitative development of human nature is aesthetic education from a very early age.
Read: Means of aesthetic education.
Principles of aesthetic education
Creative abilities must be developed from birth. From early childhood, one must instill good taste and develop the need to communicate with the sublime. Aesthetic education is aimed at developing the ability to see beauty and following the rules of good behavior, experience of friendly relations with others. Its basis is the following principles:
- Interaction. Any action should strive for aesthetic perfection: communication with peers, nature, objects of art, independent household and work activities.
- A complex approach. Education gives tangible results if creative activity is based on interdisciplinary connections and connects various types of art.
- Socialization. Aesthetic and artistic activity is not divorced from life. This is how students develop an adequate attitude towards their environment; they will be able to find beauty in its various manifestations.
- Systematicity. General and aesthetic development are interconnected. With this approach, the emotional sphere and all cognitive processes develop harmoniously.
- Independent creativity. The method of aesthetic education is most effective when applied to preschool children if they master some creative activities themselves: dancing, drawing, sculpting or singing in a choir.
- Aesthetics should dominate all life. Little children need to live in beauty. The main educational meaning is to understand the importance of accuracy and politeness. Proper aesthetic development is influenced by the beauty of the room and clothing.
- The age of the student is taken into account. Educational means are selected according to age. The formation of personality in more mature years depends on how correctly aesthetic perception was formed in younger schoolchildren.
Musical education: goals and objectives
Tips for parents
Aesthetic education of preschoolers is a long process. It is precisely described in the federal standard. The Federal State Educational Standard can be used not only by teachers, but also by parents when raising children. According to him, aesthetic education begins with the birth of a child.
It happens according to the following plan:
| Child's age | Parents' actions |
| Infant (up to 1 year) | They allow them to explore various objects and encourage the baby’s cognitive activities. They regularly read children's poems and sing songs. |
| Early preschool age (from 1 year to 3 years) | Let children become familiar with dynamic toys. They are introduced to independent study of art objects. They encourage me to look at and evaluate the pictures. |
| From 3 years to 8 | They introduce role-playing games and conduct research and educational activities. Objects of the surrounding world are studied and evaluated. They not only listen to musical works, but also learn to understand their meaning and respond to a cheerful or sad melody. |
Parents should introduce their children to beauty constantly. For example, during a walk you can draw your child’s attention to a beautiful flower or the bright plumage of a bird. They admire the cat's movements and look at the floating clouds.
Aesthetic education should not end outside the garden walls. It is necessary to teach the child to cleanliness. It is important that he cleans up his toys, because order is beauty.
It is worth noting that if a child’s aesthetic tastes differ from his parents, no attempt is made to change them. It is important to support the baby. When blue or black is his favorite color, there is no need to force him to paint it red. With age, these preferences may change.
The aesthetic education of preschoolers largely depends on the child’s parents. This is not only an introduction to the world of art, but also regular joint creative gatherings. If a child can not only appreciate, but also create objects of art, then this indicates the highest point in the development of aesthetic taste.
Forms of organization of aesthetic education
Methods of artistic and aesthetic education have the best results when they are interconnected. Teachers should combine and vary them.
The methods differ in:
- methods of transmitting information;
- practical form of organization.
The methods are divided into:
- visual (when children get acquainted with examples of art);
- verbal (adults tell, explain);
- practical (testing, creative work).
Visual methods (looking at a picture, listening to a piece of music together) suggest the emotional content of the moment. An acquaintance with objects of art should make a vivid impression on the child so that it is remembered.
The form of organization is as follows:
- when adults show an example of an action, they invite the child to repeat a poem or sing a song;
- Teachers invite the child to independently determine how to complete the task: sculpt, cut, or draw something.
It must be remembered that the aesthetic education of preschoolers is somewhat different from the methods of working with school-age children. For children, the emphasis is placed on visual perception; they are gradually brought to realize the importance of cleanliness and order. Older children are able to express their creativity. Preschoolers learn to evaluate, and schoolchildren are already creating a product and have a creative approach in the process of creating an object.
Methods of aesthetic education
The main methods that promote the development of children’s aesthetic senses, the ability to evaluate, and creatively apply acquired knowledge and skills include:
- Method of persuasion. It is used only when the phenomenon being studied is beautiful. Pupils have an emotional response when meeting works of art and participating in a holiday. The method can be considered equally verbal, because Children's observations receive commentary from an adult and awaken thoughts and feelings.
The teacher must select the most impressive works of art and take care of the appropriate mental mood of the children. The subject must be well mastered by the teacher, and the speech must be precise and expressive. When attention is focused on the beautiful, the teacher gives the concept of “what is good and what is bad.”
- Training method. It implies a practical action, an exercise aimed at changing the environment, instilling socially accepted cultural behavior skills. The content of the method is to teach the child to see and appreciate beauty, and to act accordingly.
Systematic exercises and children's artistic practice promote children's activity.
- Method of problem situations. Allows creativity and the desire to act to awaken. The teacher invites the students to find a way to realize their artistic idea themselves. For example, after listening to a fairy tale, children are asked to portray one of the characters. The task can be simple or complicated by the poor choice of the hero. The child learns to think on his own, comes to an independent decision on how best to realize his plans: draw, sculpt, compose a poem.
- Encouraging empathy. A sympathetic person who knows how to empathize and compassion experiences joy from communicating with people, and celebrates successes and victories with them. Children who can sympathize are more open and friendly, they have more friends, and they are less likely to find themselves in conflict situations.
Emotional reading of fairy tales, discussion of illustrations, a puppet show or a musical number will help here.
Traditional methods of influencing students
Story. It should be emotional, have a plot outline, be educational, influence the imagination, but not interfere with self-assessment.
Domestic and foreign systems of music education
Lecture. Dedicated to more complex topics, it is appropriate for classes with older children. Equipping the lesson with visual material will give greater imagery. It is permissible to raise problematic topics, push students into discussion, and persuade them to express their point of view.
Conversation. This is not a teacher’s monologue in front of children, but a mutual emotional exchange of opinions. During the conversation, the teacher uses visual material, interprets scientific concepts, emphasizes certain beautiful characteristics in works of art, work, real and fictional characters in literature, theater, and cinema.
Dispute. Designed to discover and bring together different points of view, raise a problem, and attract children to discuss it. The task of adults is to carry out serious preparatory work to help identify positions, stimulate dialogue, and direct the dispute into a cultural direction.
Education through art
Whatever the methods of education, it is important that they are provided with the necessary conditions:
- developmental environment;
- close interaction with nature and art;
- conditions for the realization of creativity.
At a young age, aesthetic education is distinguished by the fact that children perceive everything around them with their senses. For them, the form and content of an object are inseparable. If a child likes something, he experiences delight and joy. The teacher’s task is to direct this simple mental movement from ordinary perception to a deep understanding of harmony, beauty, and the formation of aesthetic taste.
Important
Proper musical and aesthetic education teaches children not only to understand beauty, but also to find beauty in everyday life: everyday phenomena, nature, work, clothing.
Introduction to art. Guidelines
Understanding art is not an innate quality, it is nurtured. In order for a child to learn to perceive classical music, he must listen to it from early childhood. It needs to be carefully selected and turned on infrequently. Upon reaching 3-4 years old, you can try to discuss what you heard, tell your child about music and musical instruments.
Kids begin to get acquainted with painting by looking at illustrations for fairy tales. A little later, works of art are selected taking into account age. It is better if these are close and understandable plots, heroes or animals.
You can start getting acquainted with the theater at the age of 1.5 years. The puppet theater performs for no longer than half an hour; the youngest do not have time to get tired.
Children attend museums, the Philharmonic, and ballet from the age of 4-5. It is better to choose children's themed museums, performances, and concerts.
When parents are going to a theater or museum with their child, they need to explain to him how to behave in this important place. Before the event, you should feed the baby so that later the feeling of hunger does not interfere with the perception of beauty. It is advisable that the path to the abode of the muses is not too tiring. Clothes should be thoughtful and beautiful; this will emphasize the importance of the event and be memorable.
After a cultural event, you should definitely discuss with your child what you saw and heard. Let him talk about his impressions, answer whether he still wants to visit an exhibition or theater in the future. If the child does not show delight, there is no need to rush into organizing the next cultural outing. Take a break, organize an event after a while.
