Luke continued to climb up and down, still very happy. I took some Vlog these days and will upload them as soon as possible.

Recently, Luke's mother sent some photos of Luke in a circle of friends. Several friends were quite surprised, thinking that our family of two doctors of science and technology would only vigorously engage in STEM education.

As a doctor of education, Jiwa naturally has to cover everything. Aesthetic education is one of the key points, how can it be ignored? Moreover, I have been experimenting and exploring since Luke was very young, and I have a lot of experience to share with you.

Why aesthetic education?

Aesthetic education is the ability to recognize beauty, discover beauty and create beauty. Some familiar aesthetic education "projects" include music, art, dance and drama.

concentrate

The so-called concentration is "sitting still". Many parents in our group are complaining that their children can't sit still and can't listen in class. Therefore, concentration is an important ability, which is helpful for learning any subject (adults also rely on it to improve work efficiency! )。

Painting, dancing and other activities will mobilize the child's brain and body. They need to think and act. In fact, it is a process for children to devote themselves wholeheartedly. When you meet something that your baby is interested in, your mental concentration is higher and you should exercise your concentration properly.

observe

Beauty comes from life. Aesthetic education is the cultivation of the ability to perceive life. A small flower on the roadside and dew on the grass in the morning are all beautiful things in life. In the project of studying art, children learn to observe and perceive the world, which can not only improve their aesthetic ability, but also improve their thinking ability.

creativity

When creativity is small, it can help children to disperse their thinking. When creativity is big, it is the source of social progress.

Childhood is the most critical period for the development of creativity. For children, there is no "should" and everything is infinite. Creation is a spontaneous and natural thing. What we can do is to protect this creativity, not to suppress it. Aesthetic education is the best way for children to communicate infinitely and fly in the world of art.

How to choose?

This is the point. There are many choices for aesthetic education. How do we choose?

The first is to look at parents' genes. Parents or other relatives are gifted in a certain aspect of art, and children are likely to inherit it! These are all written in genes, which will be accurate with great probability.

In fact, you don't necessarily have much talent, just a hobby. Like parents who can play musical instruments, children are likely to be interested in music. Mother who loves dancing, the baby at home probably likes it too.

Like the Luke family, generally speaking, artistic talent is zero.

Luke's parents have no artistic expertise, except that Luke's father is a little good at painting (Luke's father is more prominent in opposing Luke's super poor painting skills).

So we tried to encourage Luke to paint, but I didn't expect it to be true. Eva was also interested! As for how we did it, I will tell you later.

If there is no interest or specialty in art at home, then I encourage everyone to try everything and see which Eva is more interested in.

In terms of music, we started to try African drums, and Luke was very interested a few days ago.

I don't want to play in a few days. But then Luke Kindergarten had a music week to introduce all kinds of musical instruments to children.

Eva suddenly remembered the African drum and insisted on fighting. . .

Wrong style of painting (sitting on a drum)

Well, I've tried my best anyway, at least I can be sure that you are not interested in music at present.

And dancing. We tried. Isn't Luke's kindergarten in the gym? Teachers can take it to various interest classes. . Besides swimming, we also chose football and dance according to Luke's interests (we were surprised that Luke chose dance).

Eva went to school for two months, and then said she wanted to learn football, but she was not interested. Kindergarten has time to listen to music and dance almost every day. I guess Luke thinks it's like dancing?

Recently, we found that Luke likes singing. I don't know if I can cultivate this aspect.

Other musical instruments, the Luke family still want to continue to try, after all, can promote the baby's all-round development.

Here I also want to emphasize that learning these art classes should not be too utilitarian, just like Eva's sports interest class.

Although we are very active, our mentality is more Buddhist. For aesthetic education, it is mainly to cultivate aesthetics. If you can really learn something, it is an extra gain.

How to cultivate?

Art comes from life, so it is good to start with daily life from the beginning, and there is no need to take the baby to class at the age of one or two. There are many places to invest money, so you should choose the right place before investing.

Luke became interested in words and images when he was about three years old, so I began to make a drawing board, which can be used to teach people to read and draw.

Sketchpad is particularly convenient to use. Although it is equipped with a pen, it can be painted by hand and can be erased by pressing a button. It won't make a mess at home at all, especially suitable for all kinds of enlightenment (English, Chinese, Pinyin, painting).

Later, I gradually found out that Luke likes to hold a drawing board, so I started a gentle offensive and encouraged+appreciated the baby with Luke's father. Luke's father also played a game of "draw and guess" with Eva.

The game is also very delicate, not drawing everything, but limiting a range, so it is easier to guess. Luke likes Super Mario. I have said it hundreds of times, so I drew the theme of Super Mario, which can especially interest Luke.

At first, my father painted Luke's guess, but I didn't expect to get addicted to playing Luke once. Always let dad play with him and let me draw a few pictures (crustily skin of head, terrible).

Later, with our encouragement, Luke became more and more confident and began to try to draw by himself. After several times, he looks like a model (with the contrast of his mother, the baby is more confident).

The key is that he painted according to his own impression, rather than comparing it with a picture. This can actually cultivate the ability of observation and thinking.

Look at the mushrooms he painted:

It turned out to be like this:

And this, chain dog.

Luke drew it like this:

Although I am a Virgo doctor, I am very satisfied with this progress of Eva. If I have to imagine painting by myself, I really can't draw as well as Eva.

Later, Luke's mother put a lot of drawing equipment for the baby, such as crayons, pencils, oil pastels and markers. The brighter the baby is, the more she likes it.

Eva also has a lot of time to paint at school, and sometimes she paints according to the weekly study theme.

Sometimes this is a proposition of free painting:

Sometimes creative painting:

Sometimes it is random. You can draw anything you want.

In fact, for Luke's painting, there is no other material input except buying colored pens (the paper used is my student's homework), and we pay more attention to encouraging and affirming the baby.

Luke is a perfectionist, ie follows his mother at first sight. It takes a long time to draw with the sketchpad at first, and if you are not satisfied, you can clear it with one button. Mom and dad exaggerated his works, giving him confidence to continue.

When Luke was absorbed in painting, we tried not to disturb him. Sometimes he wants to finish painting a whole picture before eating, so we just let him go.

I have heard a talk show, and the most terrible thing for parents is four words: the meal is getting cold, so hurry up and cook it and eat it immediately. This actually destroys the child's concentration. Anyway, my family always thinks that Eva, like us, will eat when she is hungry, and it's okay to be hungry for a while occasionally.

next step

Luke has made remarkable progress in painting. He has better control over pens and more accurate coloring.

Now Luke is very enthusiastic about painting. He paints a picture every day.

To sum up, the secret of the success of aesthetic education in my family is: try more at the beginning and support more interests. After all, like most parents, we can't teach much in aesthetic education, and we are afraid of not guiding our children well.

In kindergartens and primary schools in the United States, teachers often guide children according to this idea, with multiple goals.