How to make a child friends with modern or classical art?

Children are very receptive, they react sharply to everything they see and hear around them. This feature can be easily used in order to instill in a child an interest in art from childhood — you just need to know some of the nuances, which we will now be happy to tell you about.

First steps

You should not start with academic references on artists and sculptors, overloading the baby with boring information for him — take the child the main role in this exciting journey into the world of art. For example, show him an album with paintings, inviting him to choose the one he likes, and ask him to explain what exactly in this work attracted his attention.

It is important not to drive the child into a framework, immediately giving the “correct” answers about what kind of style and direction in art it is, how it is characterized, why it matters. It will be great if he himself takes the initiative and suggests how this work of art differs from another.

Invite the child to be inside the picture and describe his feelings, or suggest with him why the sculptor decided to depict a man in such a pose and such clothes. Ignorance of the facts in this case works only as a plus, as it allows you to develop creative thinking. Make it clear that there are no right and wrong points of view here, but the position must be reasoned. A flight of fancy will play into your hands, and the possible comparisons of classic works with cartoons or computer games will be an interesting way to look at art, going beyond textbooks.

A visit to a museum may seem boring to a child, but only if you approach it from a formal point of view — list all the “not allowed”, such as touching the exhibits, making noise and skipping around the hall, and immediately start showing the canvases, giving them historical and cultural information . Even adults get bored here! Instead, you can come up with a game to find all the green/pink objects or to count all the animals found in the images in the museum. The main thing is to correctly combine this with the impressions of the works themselves, so that they do not turn into only the background for the game. Make the canvases and sculptures “come to life” for the child due to the game, becoming something familiar and dear.

Speaking of kinship, it’s very cool to introduce a child to art from childhood, also because, having matured, he will definitely encounter the study of artists again, but the pleasant feeling that he knows many from childhood, and that they are close to him, will remain for the rest of his life. life. This removes the barrier that art is difficult, incomprehensible and not for everyone.

What else is important?

Explain to your child that art does not end in museums — it is always here and now, right around us. If talking about paintings does not captivate the baby, find what he is interested in and start with that — for example, computer games, which, by the way, were officially recognized as another art form in 2011! Discuss with your son or daughter about powerful computer graphics and how it can be implemented on modern machines, tell them about what gamification is and how it is applied.

The main rule when introducing children to the world of art is not to forget that everything should be presented in an easy, relaxed and interesting form for them. Then the child will not lose interest in the study of art and will look at it not as a «compulsory», but as a fascinating way to learn a little more about the world — this was your main goal, wasn’t it?