Anthropologists say that the need for beauty and harmony is inherent in man. Without this component, it is impossible to form a holistic picture of the world, as well as the creative activity of an individual. Since ancient times, the sages recommended raising children in an atmosphere of kindness and beauty. For young men, the perception of beauty and physical development were considered priorities, for young people - learning and enjoying various types of art. Thus, the importance of the formation of the aesthetic culture of the individual has always been recognized.
Definition
The term "aesthetics" comes from the Greek aisteticos (perceived by the senses). The main subject of the study of this philosophical doctrine were various forms of beauty. An intelligent, spiritually developed person can notice beauty in nature, art and everyday life, strives to ennoble the surrounding reality.
However, in modern society, the trend towardsconsumerism, the possession of material values. Great importance is attached to the intellectual education of the individual. The rational-logical approach displaces the sensual, emotional component. This leads to the depreciation of the intangible cultural heritage, impoverishment of the inner world of a person and a decrease in his creative potential.
In this regard, the aesthetic education of the younger generation is of particular importance. Its goal is to create a culture of personality that includes:
- Aesthetic perception. The ability to see beauty in art and life.
- Aesthetic feelings. These are the emotional experiences of a person, which are based on an evaluative attitude to the phenomena of nature, art, etc.
- Aesthetic ideals. These are the individual's ideas of perfection.
- Aesthetic needs. The desire to communicate with the beautiful in its various manifestations.
- Aesthetic tastes. This is the ability to distinguish between the beautiful and the ugly, to evaluate them in accordance with the existing aesthetic knowledge and formed ideals.
Structural Components
In educational work, the following components are usually distinguished:
- Aesthetic education. Includes acquaintance with world and domestic culture, mastering art history knowledge.
- Artistic and aesthetic education. It provides for the involvement of children in creative activities, the formation of their tastes and value orientations.
- Aesthetic self-education. During it, a person is engaged in self-improvement, deepens existing knowledge and practical skills.
- Education of the aesthetic needs of the child, as well as his creative abilities. A person must have a craving for beauty, a desire to bring something new into the world through self-expression.
Tasks
The aesthetic culture of the child is formed in two directions: familiarization with universal values and inclusion in artistic activity. In accordance with this, two groups of tasks facing educators are distinguished.
The first are designed to form the aesthetic knowledge of the younger generation, to acquaint him with the culture of the past. Children are taught to see the beauty in life, work, nature, and emotionally respond to it. Aesthetic ideals are formed. The desire for excellence in deeds, thoughts, and appearance is encouraged. The teacher should remember that the aesthetic tastes of all people are different. Some children admire classical music, others are fascinated by hard rock. We need to teach children to relate the tastes of other people and eras with their own, to treat them with respect.
The second group of tasks provides for the participation of children in practical artistic activities. They are taught to draw, compose fairy tales, sculpt from plasticine, dance, play instruments, sing, recite poetry. The teachers organize theatrical performances, concerts, literary evenings, exhibitions and festivals. As a result, the child joinsactive creative activity, learning to create beauty with his own hands.
Birth to 3 years
The tasks of aesthetic education vary depending on the age of children. The youngest are taught to emotionally respond to the beauty around them, to express themselves through free creativity. The baby loves lullabies and beautiful music. He enjoys bright rattles, an elegant doll and perky nursery rhymes.
Educators make the following recommendations:
- Surround your child with beauty. Order and stylistic consistency in the nursery, plants and paintings decorating the apartment, neat and polite parents - all this is quickly adopted and very difficult to correct later.
- Introduce your baby to high art. The works of such composers as Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Haydn are suitable for this. Folk and children's songs are also welcome. From 6 months babies try to dance to music. You can include them classical ballets. From the age of two, a child is able to move in time with the melody: whirl to the w altz, jump to the polka, step to the marches.
- From birth, tell folk rhymes and beautiful poems of the classics. Babies listen to their sound, not yet understanding the meaning. Closer to the year, children are introduced to simple folk tales. It is recommended to stage them with toys. At 1.5 years old, you can take your child to a puppet show.
- Give your child a pencil, paint, plasticine or play dough as early as possible. Allow to draw doodle, crumple elasticmaterials. The process is important here, not the result.
- Walk more often in beautiful places, go to nature.
Preschool
Usually, children aged 3-7 attend kindergarten. The program of any preschool institution provides for special classes on the artistic and aesthetic development of children. This includes familiarity with visual activity, literary works, music, dance. Children participate in theatrical performances, perform at matinees. Artists come to visit them with puppet and circus performances. All this forms a love for art.
Another good help for parents can be aesthetic development groups that open at children's centers and music schools. In them, preschoolers are introduced to various types of art: music, drawing, theater, singing, modeling, rhythm. Additionally, there are lessons in mathematics and speech development, which use game and creative teaching methods.
However, a lot also depends on family upbringing. It is important that parents introduce preschoolers to the best examples of cartoons, fairy tales, and poems. But it is better to refuse uncontrolled TV viewing. Modern cartoons often contain rude and slang words, scary, unattractive characters appear in them. All this negatively affects the formation of the artistic taste of the child, not to mention his psyche.
At this age, it is useful to look at reproductions of famous artists, which depictanimals and magical characters. It is best to purchase a set of postcards. Discuss the image, try to feel the sounds, smells, guess what will happen next. Why are the characters happy or sad? Which family member will find more details on the canvas?
From 4-5 years old, you can take your child to the museum. Preschoolers prefer sculptures and decorative objects (vases, candelabra, furniture). Pictures are more difficult to perceive. Invite the child to find the most interesting on their own. From the age of 5, you can attend children's concerts at the Philharmonic, colorful ballets based on the plots of famous fairy tales. Play an orchestra at home by creating instruments from scrap materials.
Many benefits bring family walks around the city, trips to nature. Pay attention to the beauty of buildings, admire blooming flowers or the sunset together. Preschoolers need to interact with animals. It is good if the family has a pet that needs to be looked after. Going to the petting zoo or circus will bring a lot of joy to the kids.
Aesthetic education at school
First graders already have their own ideas about beauty. They are able to experience deep aesthetic feelings. The task of the school is to organize a gradually becoming more complex system of classes in which children learn to perceive and analyze works of art, to distinguish between genres and styles. The formation of the artistic taste of students continues.
The content of aesthetic education includes two special disciplines:
- Music. She teaches students1-7 grades. At the lessons, children get acquainted with composers and musical genres, the skills of choral singing and the ability to follow the melody are actively developing.
- Fine art. This course is conducted from the 1st to the 6th grade and is aimed at the artistic and aesthetic education of schoolchildren. Children get acquainted with a variety of creative techniques and materials, learn to express their feelings and relationships through drawing.
General education disciplines are no less important. So, literature lessons develop the emotional-sensual sphere of schoolchildren, teach them to empathize with the characters, to notice the beauty of verbal images. Geography and biology are designed not only to equip children with knowledge, but also to cultivate a love for nature. Exact sciences show the strict beauty of formulas, theorems, allow you to experience the pleasure of solving research problems. However, the main work on aesthetic education is carried out after school hours.
Junior students
Work with primary school students should be carried out in three directions:
- Acquaintance with works of art, obtaining aesthetic information. With children, it is necessary to look at paintings by outstanding artists, listen to classical music, read high-quality literature that is easy to understand. Visiting museums, theaters, philharmonics, concerts will help to join high art.
- Acquisition of practical artistic skills. The child should not only get acquainted with ready-made masterpieces, but also try to create something similar on their own. For this purpose, performances are staged at the school,music, art and poetry competitions are held, concerts are being prepared for the holidays.
- Self-expression through your favorite creative activity. Parents should think about choosing a circle based on the interests of the child. It doesn't matter if it's an art school, a choir or a dance studio. The main thing is that the heir can realize his creative potential.
Not all families have the opportunity to attend the best concerts and exhibitions, take children to clubs. But even in the most remote village, you can arrange expressive reading evenings, look at books with pictures, sculptures, listen to music, watch good films and discuss them. In the village club, circles of amateur performances should work. Mass holidays are regularly held in the villages, acquainting local residents with folk culture.
But the main condition for the success of aesthetic education is an enthusiastic adult. When working with children, a formal approach is unacceptable. Teach children to look at masterpieces through the eyes of a discoverer, not to be afraid to express their own opinion, sometimes naive. Connect games. Turn into great composers and compose a melody for a poem. Play gallery by hanging art reproductions on the walls. Let the child take on the role of a tour guide. Non-seriousness and openness are the key to success.
Middle school students
Teachers and parents of schoolchildren in grades 5-9 face the following tasks of aesthetic education:
- To organize direct contact of children with various works of art throughtheir display, performance or demonstration.
- Develop a rating system in relation to the phenomena of beauty.
- To provide information about the means of expression, history and theory of world art.
- Create conditions for independent creative activity that will allow each child to establish himself in the team (circles, literary and musical evenings, amateur concerts, competitions).
Transitional age is a sensitive time for aesthetic development. Children are characterized by increased sensitivity, the desire for independence, self-expression. They are attracted to bright, strong-willed individuals who can overcome circumstances.
At the same time, many schoolchildren still do not know how to distinguish genuine art from primitive forms of mass culture. Resolute action heroes who commit immoral acts often become role models. It is extremely important to form full-fledged artistic tastes of children at this age, to acquaint them with the best works of art, choosing those that are accessible for perception, close to the experience of schoolchildren. Interest is usually attracted by bright historical events, adventure and fantasy.
Getting to know the intangible cultural heritage (traditions, oral art, mythology, crafts) allows you to get in touch with age-old ideas, the collective experience of the people. No less relevant at this age are conversations about the culture of communication, the appearance of a person, and modern fashion. Invite teenagers to enter into a dialogue, express their opinion duringdiscussions, role-playing games, forgive their "ruffiness".
High school students
In grades 10-11, schoolchildren are able to subtly feel beauty in art, talk on equal terms with adults about the meaning of life, harmony, happiness. They are characterized by curiosity. Many at this age are engaged in self-education.
At the same time, children are unbalanced, prone to critical statements. Boys often behave unleashed, dismissive of their appearance, defending their right to independence. Girls, on the contrary, carefully look after themselves, use cosmetics, and are interested in lyrical works about love.
It is important for teachers to create favorable conditions for identifying the abilities of students and their development. Classes in music and art schools, circles, performances in a village club often predetermine the choice of a profession. Classroom hours can be used for conversations, excursions, disputes, theatrical performances, musical evenings, discos, meetings with cultural figures.
Aesthetic education is not limited to art. Schoolchildren should notice beauty in ordinary life, whether it be nature, socially useful work or domestic environment. The aesthetics of communication is being actively formed, including the culture of expressing feelings, respect for the interlocutor, expressiveness of speech.
Results of aesthetic education
Ideally, teachers and parents should form a cultural personality capable of deeply feeling the beauty in artand life. Such a person is distinguished by high spirituality and an active creative position. It is possible to conclude that the tasks of aesthetic education have been completed according to the following criteria:
- The individual has artistic ideals.
- He regularly visits museums, exhibitions, concerts and local attractions.
- A person independently studies information about art, reads the works of the classics, orients himself in genres and styles.
- He is able to name well-known figures in at least 4 types of art, knows their work. Can evaluate the seen work, express their attitude towards it.
When solving the problems of aesthetic education, special attention should be paid to the formation of free thinking in a child, the desire to create beauty around him. Then he will be able to successfully fit into modern society and benefit him.
