Children can have fun with crayons and colors –and paper and walls– any time of the year and develop some important kindergarten readiness skills and strategies. Christmas has super ideas of things to draw, some easier for younger children and some harder for those older and especially interested in drawing.
Drawing a circle sounds simple but requires a great deal of muscle control. Parents and caregivers can draw a circle and let kids color all around. Cutting out the circle and attaching a bit of ribbon makes a wonderful decoration and gives children just as wonderful a sense of accomplishment and pride. A rectangle for a present is also easy to decorate with lines and colors. But even quite young children can draw reindeer, Santa, and trees.
As children draw and color, they are developing brain connections and improving their muscle control. They are practicing their attention and focusing skills , plus stimulating imaginations. When drawing, the hand is not the only part that is making a picture, so is the mind. This is called visualization. Making pictures in the mind, is what we do when we are reading; drawing can help children with this process. It also reinforces the link between marks on a page and meaning.
Pictures are also another form of communicating and sharing with others. Kids use language to explain and tell about their pictures, using the words for colors, shapes and more. Drawing is a form of play because it is very much an internal activity. It is both personal and social.
Not all kids are interested in drawing with paper and crayons, so sometimes parents and caregivers need to find things that are more appealing like drawing with clean fingers in chocolate pudding or coloring with food colors on cookie dough! Would your child like to play with some kind of drawing, today?
WHEN TO TEACH OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING In many ways it is easier to teach observational drawing before children reach the stage of self-criticism and frustration. When children are four or five they are less apt to compare their drawings to others. They are less self-critical and more tolerant of their own work.
Thank you for that advice. Plus, the imagination is still so active.