Encouraging kids to draw, color and make pictures helps with all kinds of brain connections and kindergarten readiness. Instead of crayons, this activity uses rocks. During a play-date afternoon, a 3 year old, 7 year old and 11 year old all made rock pictures.
Creating pictures can be considered play because it is very much an internal activity. Children interpret and represent what they see around them. Not only are pictures another form of communication, just like words, they are a form of writing and help reinforce the connection between meaning and print, or in this case meaning and art. Making pictures, on paper or table, is good practice for making pictures in the mind or what is called visualizing. Even though art is very much a visual activity, there is still lots of language as children talk about their pictures, practice the vocabulary for colors and engage others in conversation. Plus, there’s lots of creativity and imagination involved, too.
Some other skills and brain-connections include eye-hand coordination as children learn to manipulate tools and growth of attention-span as kids focus on what they are doing. Each artist has to make decisions about what to use and how to use different materials. Size and shape and how things fit together require thinking about, as well. This rock art was both a fun play activity and a brain-challenging one, the best way to develop kindergarten readiness. Have you and your child ever made pictures with rocks?