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Importance of Observation Skills!

Writer's picture: The Helikx BlogThe Helikx Blog

Written By: P.V.Ananthalakshmi Principal, Helikx Open School

 





“To acquire Knowledge one must study; but to acquire wisdom one must observe.”






I always wonder the observation skill of children who after a study tour/picnic share their experience illustrating even the minute details of things they have seen.


What is observation skill?

It is an act of perceiving something or someone to gain information.

Observation has been one of the vital skills that develops the normal functioning of a healthy kid. Children in the kindergarten stage or to say, around the age of 5, have a very strong observation and retaining skills.


While repeating the rhyme/story we can notice their actions, gesture and modulation are as

that of their teacher. It is generally seen that children of this age group remember things quite well and then use those observations in their future actions. Children generally learn what they see around them and in this process they tend to observe things minutely.


Research has shown that the observation skills of children are generally tactile and developed in two ways - by being involved in closer unique observations and further by engaging in utilising those observations of previous experience. The children when they grow, miss this charm and we make the children to focus more on the academic skills than such soft skills.


Importance of observation skills:

It’s important to build communication, to pay attention to details, improves critical thinking, and helps to make connections, create insights and to build social relationships.


Factors affecting observation skills are perception, distractions, stress or fear and level of interest.


While improving this skill, the children's needs, interest, abilities and skills have to be taken into consideration.


1. Engaging with the child by talking and discussing.

Kids pay attention to detail so it can be beneficial when parents engage in communicating with their child and use words for all tiny activities being done like standing, walking, sitting etc so that the child understands by observing the actions.


2. Including story books, rhymes and narratives

Reading out stories, enacting rhymes, and narratives can catch the attention of kids to the rhythm and intonation and actions used will also aid in improving their skills as to observe how these gestures and postures are used.


3. Include questions based on things observed or that are observable

Engaging in random question-answer sessions during leisure time encourages the child to observe things in-depth and retain it for further such sessions. One can ask questions related to colours, shapes, sounds etc., a part of the activity and then tell them more about it.


4. Play games that need observation and concentration

While it is easy to involve the kid in games, adding the element of observation and giving the games that sort of touch can also boost their skills. For instance, playing games like recognition of things in the room, identifying the colours outdoors, playing with blocks of specific colours and shapes etc.


5. Enabling logical reasoning and decision making activities.

Give the child options to make decisions for tiny activities like dressing up or choosing the colour while drawing or painting; make him/her reason on certain things and explain it to them so that the reasoning ability refines and in order to do better the child can learn how to think. However, in doing this one has to ensure that the pristine thought process of the child isn’t hampered because one’s thought process that hasn’t evolved naturally doesn’t facilitate inquisitively.


A good blend of all these activities in addition to a few more that are found to be feasible for the child specifically can be included in the daily lives of both the child and the parents so that improved observation skills and fine motor skills can be easily achieved.

 

For more tips on interesting activities you can do with your children to improve their observation skills, please check out the following links:-

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