1. When does the child start drawing?
Few children start drawing before they are 12 months old. In most cases, this ability is developed around the age of 3, that is in the age when they are able to create a drawing that looks a little like a human figure or a house. However, before the child takes up drawing, it will have to develop additional skills.
Around the age of 18 months, a toddler will be able to walk on his own with a thick marker or a crayon on a piece of paper. The drawing tool will hold the whole fist, and the other hand will hold the paper at the same time. At this age, the child can draw both right and left hand, which is of no importance for the future.
The first drawings of a child at the age of 18 months do not present a specific design, just the toddler is trying to cover the white card with colored scribbles. It can fine-tune the strokes or draws, depending on what comes to mind at the moment. However, a 2-year-old child is already able to create about 20 different patterns, which are generally divided into: long, horizontal zigzags, short lines directed in different directions and spirals, fulfilling the functions of future circles.
There is a significant change between the second and the third year. Toddler is no longer amusing dashes and swirls. He tries to draw people, animals, houses, items he knows. It happens that at the beginning of the work he will say what he will create, although he often changes his mind during work.
The child has such a rich imagination and so many ideas that even after finishing the drawing he can explain what he presents differently each time. Although the pictures are still far from being faithful to the original, they are easier to decipher.
The toddler controls the hand movements more and more precisely and reproduces shapes more precisely. Therefore, he can draw lines, crosses, triangles, rectangles and circles. Thanks to the wheels and lines the child can create the first portraits, which usually means circle in the city’s heads and lines in the limb’s place. A house is also characteristic for children’s drawings. As the child grows, his drawings become more and more realistic and rich in details.
2. How to teach a child to draw?
Learning to draw is fun and educational. Allows the child to play while developing creative skills. However, you must remember that learning new things is good, but the child should also have some free time to do something less creative. To help your child develop these skills, you can help him draw in a homely atmosphere in his free time.
It is very important to learn the basics well when learning to draw. It is worth starting by giving your child a sheet of paper, pencil and eraser. Learning to draw begins with teaching the child basic shapes such as square, circle, triangle and rectangle. Then you can practice spirals and crooked lines with your toddler. It is good if the child can repeat the shapes drawn by the parents.
Next, you should practice with the child drawing more complicated shapes and objects. At the beginning, it is worth choosing well-known objects like a dog, house, fruit, car and so on. Please pay attention to the size and faithfulness of the details. When a child grows up, with time, you can teach them to experiment with contrasts and shadows.
Pre-school and early-school children, who exhibit artistic abilities and desire to develop them, should be equipped with books suitable for a toddler’s age with instructions for drawing and painting.
Picture Credit: ddimitrova