Sticking and Drawing to Learn Nursery Rhymes -- Animals (Part 1)

Author: Xu Jun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-23
Features: I have been engaged in early childhood art education for many years and deeply feel that a teacher's teaching style, methods of improvement, as well as their guidance, inspiration, and verbal or non-verbal interactions with children, have a crucial impact on the growth and development of children in art. Traditional art education often focuses more on copying, with teachers drawing while children learn, and children replicating exactly what the teacher does. The teaching objectives mostly revolve around drawing accurately, rarely considering the needs and expressive desires of children in the process of painting. This training method severely restricts children's desire for free expression and hinders their creativity and development. Some approaches may emphasize the development of children's imagination and creativity, but they encourage children to draw freely according to their own wishes, without regard for their drawing experience or abilities. Teachers rarely participate or provide guidance, leading to a situation where children's expressive desire is inversely proportional to the content of their artwork, significantly undermining their confidence.
How can we address the issues of overly instructive and overly permissive teaching methods? After a considerable amount of trial and exploration, I realized that combining children's songs with painting is one of the most effective approaches. It not only highlights a comprehensive teaching method but also greatly benefits children who are in the critical and transitional periods of language development, as well as those in the symbolic, high-interest, and expressive stages of art development. In kindergartens, we often see children holding a pencil in one hand while murmuring to themselves. This inspired me to experiment with using children's songs as a teaching method for art. During this process, I focused on the rhythm and rhyme of the songs, ensuring they were easy to recite and helped children understand and express themselves, granting them more confidence and a sense of achievement. This approach, which combines language and action, has supported the growth of many children.
The greatest aspiration of this book:
1. To help more children develop a love for painting through activities like tearing, pasting, learning, reciting, and drawing, fostering their interest in art.
2. To allow more parents to experience the joy of parent-child teaching.
3. To encourage more colleagues to contribute and refine through experimentation.