Drawing with young children

Since very young children love to make marks, they make random marks and scribbles as they investigate their environment. Experimenting gives young children the opportunity to learn by themselves about things like lines and their direction for example, they learn about different kinds of lines and the way they move, repetitions, textures and shapes. By experimenting and practicing drawing children remember the way they use tools like crayons, felt pens and charcoal, as they develop their own techniques.

Most of the children learn how to draw with practice. When they are very young children draw mostly from imagination; they draw their feelings and their ideas in an abstract way. Later on children start looking for other things to draw, it is at this point that children will need the guidance and support of teachers at school and parents at home.

They draw from imagination – things that they imagine – like a trip to the never ending forest.

They draw from observation – they draw objects around the room, they draw from visual references and they draw from Nature, shells, seed pods, leaves, bark.

They draw from memory – children like to draw things they remember like for example: what they did in the summer holidays, their visit to grandmother, playing with friends, their home.

They draw their feelings – like a response to the question: have you ever felt lonely? or: what is home for you? Children draw happy pictures and sad pictures.

Practicing drawing can take place every day for a short time at kindergarten, school or at home. Four years old children love to keep sketch books and draw whatever they like to for periods of 10 or 15 minutes with black pens.

Setting up the drawing centre would be similar to painting, but it will have different materials. Drawing materials should be on display in shallow boxes or trays for easy access. It is better to set up the drawing centre with a few drawing tools to start with. Traditionally, children start drawing using wax crayons and felt pens.Later on, a variety of drawings tools like charcoal, chalk pastels and oil crayons can be introduced. Ink is a wonderful medium for children to use, used in combination with black pens children can produce amazing expressive and colourful drawings.

For older children that are interested in drawing from observation a point of interest could be set up within the drawing centre. A basket with fruit and a cloth with patterns, a simple composition with a tea pot and a vase with flowers on a table or something that will spark their imagination like a few shells or seed pods or a group of kitchen tools.

Wax crayons are normally the first drawing tools followed by felt pens.Oil crayons are softer than wax crayons and their colours are brighter, they are ideal for children who want to explore colour.

Black pens are great for children to use. Black pens are normally water resistant, therefore children can overpaint their drawings with water colours or coloured inks.

Natural charcoal is also recommended for young children. Compressed charcoal on the other hand wouldn’t be recommended as it is a very dense and messy drawing tool.
Young child drawing with natural charcoal.

School quality inks are ideal for kindergarten children to draw using small paint brushes. Dry water colours, normally disks, are perfect to apply colour over a black pen drawing. Children will have to be instructed on how to use these two art techniques. Dry watercolours have to be wet by using the paint brush, children also will have to learn that by rubbing the colours with the wet paint brush they will be able to release bright colours.

Most of young children love to draw and to tell stories as they draw. As young children draw mainly from imagination it is important at some point to encourage them to start looking to their surroundings and to learn about shapes, lines, colours and textures. A good activity is to go to the garden to find lines, shapes, colours and textures in Nature.

Pictures and objects to inspire children to draw are good additions to the drawing centre. Only very few objects and pictures should on be on display at one time. Pictures and objects can be refreshed every two or three days with the introduction of new items.

Art post cards, small reproductions of drawings, small picture books, pictures of animals, pictures of buildings, landscapes, flowers and people. Any suitable small pictures will be fine.