Toddlers: Modelling Drawing
Drawing with babies and toddlers is great fun. Start with simple shapes, naming them. They will recognise many from their picture books. Draw simple faces. As you draw, explain what you are doing: look, a happy smile, a sad face, curly hair, this one has ear-rings. Draw trees, flowers, grass, a house, animals. Encourage littlies to join in, doing their own or adding details. Name the colors - as well as the primaries, look for pencils or pens in colors like ochre, magenta, turqoise and vermillion. Never apologise for your lack of talent - your little one thinks you are a genius.
Preschoolers: Expanding the Vocabulary
You can broaden your child’s vocabulary of visual symbols just as you do with the written word, by ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ them. As they begin to draw, ask your child what they are depicting. You can offer gentle prompts as they go, but do not be insistent - you are simply offering possibilities. A horse… how many legs does it have? Four? Who is riding the horse? Do they have a saddle? If asked, you might offer a suggestion for a line that will help represent an unfamiliar shape (How do I draw a saddle? Perhaps a curved line, like this?) How can we show movement? Try making fast, energetic marks. Slow, wavy marks for water… remember art is about feeling as well as seeing.
Just as parents are asked to model writing to school children, you can also model drawing. At this age, your own ability is not an issue. When you spend some time drawing along with your child, making pictures about things in your life - what you do at work, a visit to the supermarket, a special trip, how you felt about something important - you are modelling both the actual mark-making of drawing and the value of drawing as a means of expression.
School Age: Ready to Build Skills
When a child begins to be interested in creating complex pictures, has good fine motor control (drawing accurate shapes) and expresses the desire to draw how things look, then they are ready to begin learning to draw realistically. It is important to remember that realism is only one aspect of artistic expression, and endeavours in this area should be balanced by encouraging expressive mark-making, experimentation with color, and exposure to non-representational art.
Make use of online tutorials and drawing books to do practical drawing exercises, keeping them fun. Allow your child to focus on their interests - horses, cartoon characters, fairies - rather than strict traditional exercises.