Posted on 11/06/2018
We're all growing to recognize the importance of nurturing STEM skills these days. But can you guess what skill provides a huge basis for STEM-related studies and careers? No, it's not necessarily early scientific studies or exposure to technology. Neither is it necessarily tied to early mastery of math facts or an overabundance of math worksheets. Rather, it's the skill of careful observation. The best thing about this fact is that observation and paying attention to details is something we can easily (and painlessly!) begin to nurture in our children, starting during their toddler years. And no matter what you think about the whole STEM vs. STEAM debate, the arts can offer excellent jumping-off points for encouraging those skills.
Teaching Observation Through Nature Studies
Now, if the word "studies" conjures up images of text books and workbook pages, put that out of your head. We're not really talking about anything technical or bookish here. For a toddler, it could just mean saying, "Go get me a leaf from that tree!" and then looking at it together. Talk about the shape and color and other details. Then have them get another leaf from the same tree, and compare the two. As attention span increases, you could introduce terms for leaf parts and shapes, as well as species, and ask your child to compare two leaves from different types of trees. (While learning terms isn't the main aim here, it can be helpful in allowing you to communicate your observations.)
Once your child becomes familiar with this kind of study, you could turn it around and make an "I see" game of it. You could say something like, "I see a brown leaf with three lobes," and your child will get to use observation skills as well as newfound nature vocabulary to find what you're describing!
Teaching Observation Through Visual Arts
Like nature study, art study doesn't have to be complicated. And as a parent, you don't have to know a lot about any given art form, period, or artist in order to help your children hone observation skills through art. Like nature studies, start simply. Show them a work of art (printed or even on your phone) and ask them to tell you about it. Feel free to ask about the colors they see. You might be amazed at how quickly your child begins to notice certain similarities among paintings by a particular artist and learns to differentiate among artistic styles!
Vermeer is a favorite for introductory art study, because he uses some of the same settings and people in various paintings, making it easy for kids to recognize similarities.
Of course, nature and visual arts aren't the only ways to hone observation skills. And as important as visual observations may be, they're certainly not the only types of observations. At its root, observation skills require careful attention, something we can do with all our senses. We'll discuss ways to strengthen those abilities in another post.
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