“Mommy, here is my lion!”
Your child runs up to you with a doodle and shows you that he has drawn a lion. There is no resemblance to the lion, by any means and no matter from which angle you look at it. But through your son’s eyes, he is a roaring lion. Should you laugh or cry? Take it like a saint and praise your toddler’s efforts. Be happy, this is an important milestone in your child’s development. He has acted out one of his favorite fantasies!
Encourage this interest by providing him with lots of toddler crayons, lots of paper, and get him a kids’ art table to give him his own space. At three years old, he will be showing you pictures of mom and dad. A large circle for the head and two long vertical lines for the legs is his interpretation of a human figure. As you progress, there will be new symbols and more colors.
There will be ears, a big smile, eyes and a button or elongated nose. Soon these figures will be wearing a shirt or dress, and the eyes will look like a flower with shades of eyelashes framing the eyes. That lion has surely come a long way. This gives you clues about your child’s development with their crayons. Don’t worry about his endless demands for paper and crayons, but teach him how to keep the kids’ art table tidy after his Crayola sessions.
“Mommy I have a story”
The hours spent at the children’s art table will soon produce another big change. Get ready for a storytelling explosion. Each drawing now has a story to match, so you better listen. Now the Picasso is also a Hemingway. Everything is written to match the drawings. Produce him and ask him questions. Notice the logical arrangement of his stories: his art has finally taught him to think. This is another milestone in your child’s development.
At six, she’ll still need that kid’s art table. You will now include a background or landscape in your drawings. Pencils will be exchanged for drawing pencil and more paper will be needed. Take this opportunity to explain to him why you should use waste paper: tell him where the paper comes from and he will understand and again give his interpretation of the world around him.
Give him the opportunity to see works of art. Introduce it to other art mediums: Creating ladybugs, hats, and masks are a few activities that will involve hand-eye coordination and a lot of creative thinking. That corner where the kid’s art table is parked will be a busy corner until he’s 8 years old and won’t fit in his pushchair.
At that time, your drawings will reflect MORE realism. His interest in art will continue to flourish, and as long as he encourages it, he will be helping to shape a Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci of the same caliber or even better, thanks to his children’s art table, persistence, and patience. The unrecognizable lion has a fearful roar and a big smile.