There are three keys (abilities) needed to develop artistic skills. The first ability is to become more visually aware. It is important to help children become more visually aware of their surroundings. Artistic ideas can be explored in ways that work with the natural curiosity that children have about their world.  People often assume that the first step to learning the subject of art has to do with demonstration in using paper and pencil and they forget that the information has to come in before we can expect it to be expressed outwardly in the form of a picture.

Teaching a child to become visually aware of their surroundings is always the first step. You can take awareness walks to get children in a natural environment. These are slow meandering walks taken with a specific visual goal in mind.  Make  the purpose of the walk clear at the beginning. In this way children focus on specific details and actually SEE more. Here are some suggestions for awareness walks:

• Go to a stream and look for rocks with interesting colors. Children can learn that colors have subtle differences.
• Go to a park and look for different shapes of trees. Children tend to think of one type of shape when drawing a tree from their limited knowledge, but after experiencing a variety of shapes  you will see those things showing up in their art.
• Go to ponds and look at birds that gather there. Water fowl tend to linger, giving children more time to gather information, while songbirds tend to fly away before real observation can take place.
• Go to the zoo with sketchbooks. The goal is to find an interesting animal and draw three pictures of it in different poses. This activity can really enliven a zoo visit.
  
• Plan to get up early on several consecutive days to watch the sunrise. You could also do this with the sunset. Children will begin to add more color to the skies in their pictures.
  

These activities will give your child an artist's mindset. A child is much more limited in use of color and techniques before he is made aware of the variety found in nature. Thoreau centers us again on the value of being truly aware when he states, "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." You might also want to pick up a book that helps children explore nature in different ways. ARTistic Pursuits has assignments that not only encourage children to go out in the world "looking" but that teach them to get that information from the real world onto a piece paper. See below.

"There are lots of colors in our world and they keep changing so it is always interesting to look at."
Quote from page 12, The Way They SEE It, A Book for Every Parent about the Art Children Make, published by Artistic Pursuits Inc., 2008.

"Draw a picture of something your have seen today or saw yesterday in your home. Include any people, animals, or objects. Include what was around them like doorways, windows, or sidewalks."
Quote from page 8, ARTistic Pursuits, Grades K-3 Book One, An Introduction to the Visual Arts, published by Artistic Pursuits inc., 2008