It’s time to draw…

Why do young children need time to draw?

Here are a few reasons to consider:

Children need time to draw or scribble or use a variety of mark-making tools because they are:

• building their muscles

• demonstrating that they can have control over their environment

• needing lots and lots of practice making repetitive motions and drawing the lines and symbols that eventually become letters and numbers - (--, +, o, /, I )

• playing with their own ideas and focusing on important features of things that they are knowledgeable about - ask your 4 year old to draw a person and see what she knows

So give them scrap paper, cardboard, index cards, old greeting cards, easel paper, etc with mark making tools (pencils, markers, pastels, crayons, colored pencils, and brushes/paint).  It is a wonderful way to spend time together or alone.

Have some of these materials and tools always available.  No instruction needed, they will figure out what to do!  At first they will scribble, then they will make more purposeful marks, then recognizable images, and then full papers with stories. They may be interested in making pictures or notes for loved ones, they may make money or signs for their play scenarios, or they may want to just mix colors and discover some new combination of colors. It is exciting to see what they can create....what's on their minds...what they can show you they understand without you asking...

Happy Drawing!