Build on the Child's Curiosity

"Multiple viewpoints and impossible stairs"
 by M. C. Escher may be used to decorate a
dollhouse or shown in a Doll Art Gallery.

       As I count recognition, or identification, as one of the first elements of a child's interest in pictures, I regard curiosity as another. It is a pleasure to look at something which provokes investigation. From pictures of domestic pets, which a child identifies so quickly, he passes with awe and curiosity to pictures of strange creatures which have never come into his ken : elephants, camels, lions and all the rest. From pictures of houses and churches, such as he sees daily, he turns with inquiring eyes to views of beautiful Old-World buildings. Let the new thing be enough like the old to seem half-way familiar, yet enough unlike it to stimulate a fresh interest. The child must begin with what he can understand, but his thirst for knowledge gives him an eager zest for something a little beyond his understanding, not so far beyond it, however, that it is in outer darkness. The universal rule of progress is by one step at a time. 

• Why Young Children Are Curious 
• Tips on Nurturing Your Child's Curiosity 
• How Arts Education Develops Lifelong Learners
• Curiosity and Wonder: Cue Into Children's Inborn Motivation to Learn (pdf)
• A year with children 2016

The Museum of Natural Curiosity