A Pre-school Perspective

When pre-school children come to the Gallery, our guided tours are a time for them to appreciate art and express themselves through artful conversations with their peers and facilitators. Here, as educators we aim to kickstart pre-school children’s life-long engagement with art. Through careful observation, role-play and simple questions, we foster an environment that facilitates open discussion.

To nurture their active interest in art, pre-schoolers require extended engagement through shared learning or individual activities. Having begun this discussion in the Gallery, we hope that their interest in art continues beyond these walls. As such, I was gratified to attend My First Skool’s 5th Learning and Sharing Festival in July 2019. On display were works by pre-school children, reinterpretations of those in the Gallery, inspired by their experience on guided tours here.

The children's creativity was evident through a range of different works, from cubist-abstractions like Skyline of New York (1957) by Ahmad Sadali to Nanyang-style still lifes such as Bananas in a Basket (1953–1955) by Georgette Chen. The freedom to respond to such works through imagination encourages children to nurture their curiousity. One particular work caught my eye. Life by the River (1975) by Liu Kang has been a perennial source of inspiration for children and adults alike. In the Festival, it inspired some sculptural creations made of recycled material. Their interpretation of the subject matter – a 2019 version of life by the river – highlighted the children’s distinctive point of view. The multi-coloured shophouses, a gaggle of sightseers and the Merlion transported its viewer to a more recent time, one that the children can yet identify in a work from the 1970s

Photographs of the children posing beside their own creations gave me a deep sense of satisfaction – providing children the tools for art appreciation gives them the means to frame their own world. Art education for pre-school children instils valuable skillsets that ready our children for their future. They may grow to develop a deep appreciation of and love for art, or may one day become artists with names as familiar to us as that of Ahmad Sadali, Georgette Chen or Liu Kang. In the meantime, we can learn from and appreciate their work too.