Drawing

Readiness for Kindergarten – Backpacks in Pictures

Did you hear the news that doodle art is making a comeback? No wonder–it’s terrific exercise for the brain. Often we forget to encourage the creative and artistic interests of children. To extend the imagination activity from yesterday, have your child draw a picture about the backpack in your story. Drawing helps develop readiness for kindergarten, too.

Drawing is the first way that your child expresses meaning through print. When drawing, young children first just experiment with making marks and lines on papers. As they develop, they begin to attach meaning to these squiggles. Later on, we may be able to recognize the objects in their pictures.  Making pictures is a step before writing and helps reinforce that meaning-print connection. In addition, making pictures on paper is good practice for making pictures in the mind or what is called visualizing.

Fine muscle skills are developing in young children and need lots of experimentation and practice. Drawing and coloring is one way to do this. While some children seem to draw well for others it can be quite a challenge. I never have been able to draw as well as many of my kindergarten students! But drawing can be fun for kids as they experiment and explore with all kinds of lines, colors and shapes. Kindergarten readiness in pictures. What does your picture show and tell?

Readiness for Kindergarten – Drawing About Camping

While we hope all the days we are camping are sunny, chances are some of those days will have rain. Finding things to do can be challenging when the weather is wet. One activity that can keep little ones busy is drawing and coloring. Paper, crayons or felts and, of course, imagination. (For older kids, it helps to call it sketching and to have a pad of paper with pencil crayons or charcoal.)

Drawing is certainly a kindergarten readiness activity. Little ones first just experiment with making marks and lines on papers. Then, they attach meaning to these squiggles. Later on, we can recognize  the picture in their work and it shows some resemblance to what they are drawing. Drawing is also the first way that your child expresses meaning through print. It’s a step before writing and helps reinforce that meaning-print bond. In addition, making pictures on paper is good practice for making pictures in the mind or what is called visualizing.

This picture is certainly recognizable as camping. Unfortunately, the lines show rain. But fun for the little artist, and readiness for kindergarten learning, too. No wonder she has such a big smile! Thank you, Ella. How about you, are you smiling, too?

Kindergarten Readiness – Pirates #11

Now that there is a box of treasure, doesn’t it seem like the next activity should be a treasure map? Imagining is a skill that needs exercise and gets better with practice and a pirate map uses lots of imagination. X is another letter of the alphabet so pirates need to practice the alphabet, too. Drawing is a third skill that all of us can enjoy. A pirate map uses these skills and more.  Any big piece of paper will do, the more crumpled and ripped the better. What might be on a pirate map? Dragons, sea monsters, islands, fierce winds, big waves, bones, and ships. What else can you imagine? For a giant pirate map, try some  chalk on the driveway. Speaking of maps…
 why did the pirate cross the ocean? To get to the other tide!