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Aesthetic refers to an appreciation for beauty and a feeling of wonders. It is a sensibility that uses the imagination as well as the five senses. It is seeing beauty in a sunset, hearing buzzing of bees, flying of butterflies, rhythm in a rainfall, lightening in the sky, loving the expression of laughing on a person’s face. Each child has an individual personal sense of what is or is not pleasing.
Children are fascinated by beauty. They love nature and enjoy creating, looking at and talking about art along with the expressing their feelings and ideas through language, song, facial expressions, movements, music and dance, more openly than adults. Young children have strong preference for toys, objects, books, dolls, natural items and food. They are creative and inquisitive and delighted by art. A Childs aesthetic sense comes long before their ability to create. Even an infant’s experience an aesthetic component such as preferring a soft satin-edged blanket, curdling soft toy, watching a bright mobile or choosing a colorful toy. These choices indicate personal taste of the children. They enjoy creating spontaneously with wide variety of materials. Aesthetic sensitivity is important in learning art and creativity.
Aesthetic and Art:
Aesthetic learning means joining what one thinks with what one feels. Having feelings about what one reads makes reading a human experience. Through art, ideas and feelings are expressed. People draw pictures and sculpt monuments to show their feelings about life. Art is important because it can deepen and enlarge understanding. All children cannot be great artists, but most children can develop an aesthetic sense for art.
The arts should not be developed separate from one another. After hearing a story, some children may want to act it out. Some may prefer to paint a picture about it and some may want to make the music for the dance. There should be a constant exchange, not only among all the art activities, but among all subjects. This prevents children from creating a false separation between work and play, art and learning, and thought and feeling.
It is important here to remember that a happy balance must be established between structured and non-structured experiences. Adults need to provide an opportunity in open environment for young children to explore freely and experience things in a true aesthetic sense.
Aesthetics and Creativity:
Children must learn to work without self-consciousness, as a real artist does; children can be spontaneous and inventive. If they are trying to please the teacher and not themselves, they are denying their own aesthetic sense and hindering the discovery process. It has been said that aesthetic sensitivity is important for children because it improves the quality of learning and helps the creative process. Aesthetic sensibility in children has many other benefits.
- Children are more sensitive to problem because they have more insight into their world. This means they can be more helpful to other children and adults.
- Children are more likely to be self-learners because they are more sensitive to gaps in their knowledge and ready to fill these gaps.
- Life is more exciting for children because they have the capacity to be puzzled and to be surprised.
- Children are more likely to broaden their vision because they learn that there are many possible ways of doing things.
- Children are more independent because they are more open to their own thoughts. They are good questioners for the same reason.
- Children can deal better with complexity because they do not expect to find one best answer.
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