Children’s artistic development is as predictable as they bound to learn how to walk. Same as walking where they first kick, then crawl then take the first steps before they can run. Same is true for their drawing skills. They start with scribbles before the scribbles start to turn into figures and then, realistic objects. There is no need to teach them how to walk, why should we teach them how to draw at the beginning? Each child is developing at their own pace and we shall not rush them. Skipping stages of development helps no one. Children develop intuitively. They are drawn to bright colours and love making a mess. Well, most of them. The only thing that you can help with is to encourage them on their path.
At the beginning, the process is much more important than the end product. Children draw, experiment and try new things and their critical thinking develops. They will eventually move out from the scribble stage and start drawing figures. This is not going to happen because you ‘teach’ them how to draw, but because this is the way of the natural/ normal development!
You should understand that as walking, drawing is a skill too, that children develop with time. In their own time! Despite your desire that your child’s drawing would be better, you should understand what age appropriate drawings look like. You wouldn’t expect your 6 months old to walk, and definitely would not make him / her feel like a failure. Why do it with art? Expecting your little one to create realistic figures while they are still in the scribble stage is unrealistic! Expecting children to do things that they are not ready yet is actually harming your child. You can encourage them instead! Try to talk to them about their art.
Scribbles are a child’s way to practise lines that he / she will use to write letters and draw shapes. It’s a learning curve. You should encourage them to continue drawing horizontal, vertical, curved or diagonal lines. The scribbling stage is usually between the age of 2-4. During this time, the drawings are usually unrealistic. Children tend to use their favourite colour, rather than the colour of the actual object that they are drawing.
Children eventually start connecting lines and drawing shapes. Then they start drawing lines radiating out of circles and draw their first human. This is the last stage of scribbling, showing that your child is starting to draw pictures of recognisable things. Although, their drawings are still floating on the paper, and they show both interiors and exteriors on the same drawing.
Around the age of 5-8 the sky and ground line appear. They start to use the real colour of the object that they are drawing instead of their favourite one. During this time, children have a schema about the way of drawing. If they have to draw a cat, it will always be the same looking cat on every drawing. Same house for a house regardless that they have to draw two different houses. After the age of 8 when they start paying more attention to details and each of their drawing becomes individual.
Please note, that these times are general times! By no mean should represent every child’s development! Some develop skills earlier, some later!!!
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