Art and culture form an integral part of far-reaching and competitive training and should be instilled early on in children. From time immemorial, there have been art forms like theatre and literature, which use an amalgamation of all art forms to define culture while in most modern societies, forms like cinema, gaming etc. also have used a mixed version of all art forms to define various cultures but how do you make it interesting for kids to learn in today’s age?
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Manya Roongta, Founder of Children Art Museum of India, suggested, “Art education becomes interesting when you contextualize it. We have seen our members enjoy making art on topical issues such as festivals, seasons, national holidays, climate change etc. Kids should be motivated to create art to make memories, so they can freely express themselves without even realizing it. We have seen so many instances where kids subconsciously communicate their inner thoughts and emotions via their artwork and create memories. Art classes are like labs. They start off as a hobby however, it soon becomes a spiritual journey for the artist. This journey of growth and transformation makes room for art to motivate and inspire and eventually thrive.”
She advised, “Making students experiment with different themes and forms of art like doodling, abstract, pop art, graffiti, etc is also a great way of making art education interesting as art and craft are the gateway to unraveling the inner creative stance, emotional tonality, and free-flowing mind that has the power to perceive things from a different angle.”
According to Sudarshan Vig, Co-Founder and CEO of MerlinWand, art, whether its fine art or music or dance or any other form, is a form of self-expression. He shared, “The reason a child takes to a certain form of art is because there is one aspect or one piece which appeals to the child. Hence, art education needs to be highly personalised so that even the fundamentals which need to be taught can be taken off from that one piece which brought the student closer to the art form.”
He recommended, “Start to teach music theory by starting to teach the one song a student likes best, have them learn the fundamentals of dance by starting from the one dance they enjoy. Teach them to learn that one masterpiece they appreciate and from there, go ahead to the fundamentals. This definitely would mean getting students to a level playing field after starting them with their personal choices individually. It might seem cumbersome, inefficient even, but it will get you long-term student in art education!”