For a pre-school child, watching this rose flower can be fascinating because it has shades of pink, drops of water on the petals, it is drooping and appears dissimilar to other flower in the garden.
The sense of observation is an essential part of pre-school formation. Most children by about three years are ready to capture details of what they see or hear.
The 'why' questions emerge during the conversations. Sometimes the 'why' questions are without clear answers and appear complex to simplify to the level of understanding of the child.
A wise mother told me about her daughter who often watched her cook leading her to ask many 'why' questions. When the mother was asked, why their dog was brown in colour, she asked her daughter to point out to all the items in the kitchen with brown colour. That engaged her and made her move about to observe.
Some children are verbal with their usual style of asking, which can be turned into a new learning experience. Her mother asked her daughter to bring the colour pencil set and scribbling pad and draw lines to find the different shades of brown. Following this she was asked to look around in the bed room for objects with shades of brown colour.
What the mother sensed about her daughter was a significant observation. Her daughter would develop skills of observation, which was what was appropriate at her age rather than engage in repetitive why questions, at an age when her mind cannot comprehend the answers to all the 'why' questions.
The difference between observation and perception for a pre-school child is that observation involves association. To perceive that an ambulance is usually white in colour needs an understanding that the white colour has a symbolic meaning of 'peace'! But she can easily associate the white coloured ambulance with a cross, to be a vehicle meant to carry sick people to the hospital. It is that form of association, which is a prelude to developing perception or comprehension in the later years.
When the mother read to her daughter about elephants, what struck her daughter was about its trunk. Her next question was, 'why their dog does not have a trunk'? The mother took out the encyclopaedia and showed how each animal has some common parts like eyes, ears, legs, but different parts like trunk, long tail or short tail, large body or small body. That went on to showing her pictures of birds to emphasise that they have wings and only two legs whereas, an elephant or a dog have four legs.
The sense of observation is an important pre-school skill, which parents can introduce to their pre-school child to find the similarities and dissimilarities of colour, shape, size or dimensions around them.
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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