My Kid, The Artist

Your little toddler is now discovering drawing and colors, and it’s an exciting time for him, as his drawing skills evolve over time. Whenever he picks up a paper and some coloring pencils, he is tuning in to his creativity. As he grows up, he goes through four stages of drawing, at his own rhythm.

Stage 1: Random scribbling

This is the time when he is just starting to discover how cool crayons are and understanding that his movements result in lines on a paper. At this stage, he is holding his crayon in a fist and just making random, large movements.

Stage 2: Controlled scribbling

As he starts being more in control of his muscles, the scribbles become more controlled. He’s now able to repeat marks on a page, such as circles, and a variety of lines. Slowly, he starts holding his crayon between his thumb and finger.

Stage 3: Lines and Patterns

He now understands that writing consists of lines, curves and repeated patterns, and he’ll start trying to imitate that. He probably won’t be able to write any letters, but you’ll start seeing components of letters in their drawing. It’s at this stage that he realizes that drawings can have meanings.

Stage 4: Pictures of Objects or People

At this stage, your child begins to have a plan for his drawing. He decides what he will draw, and then does it. It may still look like scribbles, but he now has an image in his head that he is trying to replicate. This is the early stage of mastering symbolic thinking. Here is when he also starts to understand the difference between letters and drawings.

After stage 4, things develop into writing letters and drawing more accurate representations of objects. This is when he’ll start make pieces of art that you can proudly put on your fridge.

Reference:

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/305-learning-to-write-and-draw