Color, Draw And Create With Me

You’ve witnessed your child’s drawing evolve throughout the last few years.  What originally were scribbles are now turning into interesting figures.  Four year olds begin to add features to their drawings at this point in their development.  Have your child draw a person and chances are he will start drawing the head first, then add features such as arms, legs, eyes, nose, mouth, hair, etc. As your child’s fine motor skills become more refined you will notice differences in his art work.   Cognitively you child is changing also as he starts to notice details to the point that he will add these to his drawings.  Observe your child as he draws.  Invite him to tell you about his picture.  If he needs encouragement remind him of features that he could add to his person. Maybe his person has eyes and a mouth but is missing the nose.  This is an excellent time to review body parts and ask him to add the part of your body that you smell with.   Remember that children develop individually on their own timeline.   Draw along with your child.  Appreciate the simple things in life.

I vividly recall a time when my husband and I were driving home from a morning of running errands.  We only had one child at the time and she had just turned four.  It was time for her nap when we got home.  She said to us from her car seat in the back of the car, “Can I draw a Ring Tailed Lemur first?”  My husband and I were shocked!  What?  A Ring Tailed Lemur?  We didn’t even know what to say?  “OK?!? Sure!” we said.  And no kidding, when we got home she went straight to the blank white paper and a box of colored pencils and sure enough, she drew a very recognizable Ring Tailed Lemur!  Unbelievable!  (Definitely not a typical drawing for a four year old.)   Later on I asked my daughter what made her want to draw a Ring Tailed Lemur.  She said, “Mom, I saw one on TV yesterday!”  (And there was an animal show called, Zooboomafoo who was indeed a Ring Tailed Lemur!).  In contrast, my nephew at this age was making drawings he labeled as racetracks.  Picture scribbled lines in big ovals– those were his racetracks!  Memories like these still make me smile today.

Follow your child’s lead.  Let his drawings be based on what he is interested in on that day!  Maybe a visit to the zoo or a visit with a favorite relative will encourage your child to draw special, unique picture complete with a few details.