Drawing is not just for the right side of the brain, it’s great learning and kindergarten readiness fun for the all of the brain and the body, too. Drawing can help children in many ways. Here are a few:
Obviously drawing is one way to develop control of the small muscles in the hand, fingers and lower arm. Brains figure out how to coordinate what the hands and eyes so they work together.
- Sometimes as children draw they may stick out their tongues. This helps the brain focus and pay attention.
- Drawing stimulates the imagination. Children also play and create as they draw.
- As children draw, they are representing what they are seeing in their mind. Visualizing is an important skill to practice.
- Pictures and images are another way that children use to communicate.
As your child is drawing, if appropriate, you can print a word or two about the drawing underneath. In this way, kids begin to understand that words and images are connected. When we read, we create pictures in our mind from the words.
Children first begin to draw with unrecognizable scribbles but gradually the random lines begin to resemble real objects. Chalk and easels are good tools as children start to draw. Chalk is usually quite washable and not quite so hard on walls. Being smaller than felt pens, though, it’s easy to pop into a mouth so little ones need adult supervision. The dust can also be a concern. Good thing vacuums can make short work of most of it. On a piece of paper cut out in a shape, chalk scribbles make great art.
For some Halloween magic, can you cast a spell on the eraser so that it makes drawings disappear?