Many adults have memories of childhood experiences that are recalled with vivid perceptual impressions, intense feelings and a profound sense of knowing. Although these long remembered encounters may not have resulted from activities that are deemed artistic, it is probable that they would fall within the realm of human experience we term "aesthetic". Despite evidence that children do in fact encounter the aesthetic, little attention has been placed on issues regarding the development of aesthetic awareness and aesthetic ways of knowing for the youngest children in our schools and communities.;Within this study, understanding the ways that young children encounter aesthetic experience is viewed as foundational to the development of both aesthetic awareness and artistic learning. The stories of adult artists---a dancer, a musician, a visual artist, an actor and a storyteller---regarding their childhood aesthetic experiences were analysed through the narrative genre of qualitative research. Four themes arising from the narratives and having relevance to the recognition and nurturing of the young child's aesthetic and artistic ways of knowing are examined. These include the characteristics of children's aesthetic encounters, circumstances that give rise to those aesthetic encounters, pedagogical relationships that nurture and support childhood aesthetic and artistic engagement, and the power of early aesthetic experiences to influence ways of knowing and artistic practices in adulthood. Implications of the findings for early childhood curriculum and pedagogical practices for those who work and live with young children are discussed.
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