Art Appreciation and Creation

Draw Me a Picture: The Evolution of Your Child's Artwork

The stages of children's drawings are quite fascinating! As you've probably observed, what start out as random scribbles becomes controlled scribbles, then lines and patterns, until finally the drawings start to represent different objects, including people. At this age, when your child draws a person, you're likely to see between two and four body parts. (Your child can probably name more body parts than that; he is just focused on what he unconsciously feels are the most important parts.) A child's early drawings of people are often simply a circle for a head with two lines coming down from it representing the legs. This type of drawing is so common that one article, in Early Childhood News, calls it "Tadpole guy." Tadpole guy may be a part of your child's drawings for a while, but eventually it will give way to more detailed representations of people.

Has your child achieved the following Art Appreciation and Creation milestones yet? If yes, check off all of the skill(s) he has already mastered to date.