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<article xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://jats.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/1.1/xsd/JATS-journalpublishing1-mathml3.xsd" dtd-version="1.1" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">JCER</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Journal of Contemporary Educational Research</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn>2208-8466</issn><eissn>2208-8474</eissn><publisher><publisher-name>Bio-Byword Scientific Publishing Pty. Ltd.</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.26689/jcer.v10i4.14740</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title>The Generative Basis of Imagery in Children’s Painting Activities and Strategies for Aesthetic Education Practice</title><url>https://artdesignp.com/journal/JCER/10/4/10.26689/jcer.v10i4.14740</url><author>FangTengwei,LiuYi,DengHui,LiuMohan</author><pub-date pub-type="publication-year"><year>2026</year></pub-date><volume>10</volume><issue>4</issue><history><date date-type="pub"><published-time>2026-05-14</published-time></date></history><abstract>Children’s painting activities serve as a vital avenue for the development of children’s aesthetic perception, emotional expression, and creativity. Imagery, as a fusion of “meaning” and “image,” manifests in children’s paintings as psychological landscapes that combine emotions, imagination, and physical objects. From the perspective of imagery, this paper explores the fundamental conditions for its generation in children’s painting, considering the psychological and behavioral characteristics of children’s painting. These conditions primarily include perceptual triggers and material experiences, emotional drives and imaginative participation, situational guidance and meaning construction, as well as external expression and communicative feedback. 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