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Most children will almost instinctively pick up a pen, crayon or paintbrush and start to make marks with it. It can be something seen at a very young age and is, potentially at least, the first indication of art.

However, although this is regularly seen in Ashfield childcare establishments, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that the child has a natural artistic flair.

Childcare establishments – ideal for making a mess!

18-24 months children

Somewhere around 18-24 months, most children will start becoming fascinated by their ability to make marks on things with an appropriate implement like a pen, crayon or paintbrush. Hopefully, those marks will be on something you approve of, like scrap paper in your home or a board in an Ashfield childcare centre, rather than your new expensive wallpaper!

This phase is called by some “uncontrolled scribbling”. The child’s product will usually be unconnected lines, some crude circles and possibly some loops and/or spirals.

It’s unclear and sometimes disputed, just what these lines mean. Most experts believe this has more to do with children starting to learn the fine motor skills associated with manipulating a crayon than it is an attempt to physically represent something on paper although it’s also part of a child’s development in terms of being able to affect the environment around them.

3-4 years

At around 2.5-3 years, children’s drawings should start to take shape – literally.

Circles, crosses, squares, shapes with dots and even rudimentary ‘people’ (usually a circle with legs attached) and similar, are powerful indications that a child has moved (or is starting to move) towards trying to represent something they can see or have in their mind, on to paper.

This is also the age when most children will start trying to explain what their drawing is or means. Sometimes seeing it, as they do, takes some imagination but it’s a sound idea not to indicate that! Heaping lots of praise at this age can help stimulate a child’s general interest in art.

4-7 years – more recognisable shapes

At about 4, many of the shapes children draw should start to become much more recognisable and typically they will be able to speak about them with a little more conviction. Before about 3 years, children might simply make shapes and then try to interpret them as ‘something’ but by 4, they should be drawing or painting with a clear intention and design.

This is often referred to as the “pre-schematic stage”, indicating that although children are experimenting more successfully, it’s highly likely that their figures will still lack things such as scale – at least at the earlier ages in this range. The results therefore might seem ‘odd’, such as people with extraordinarily large heads but only tiny legs.

Indications of abilities in children

As with almost all other developmental areas, children may vary significantly when developing early drawing (or painting) skills.

Some children might develop ahead of the curve and start producing broadly recognisable shapes at 3-4 whereas others might struggle to do so until they’re 6-7.

Ignoring the exceptionally rare child prodigy, it can be very difficult to draw any conclusions at all at these ages about a child’s future abilities with artistic or design activities. Things only typically become clearer in that respect from about the age of 8- 9 onwards.

By contrast, some things might require further specialist assessment in cases where a child by 4-5 demonstrates one or more of the following;

• shows no interest at all in drawing or painting;
• becomes angry or simply refuses to participate when asked to draw or paint;
• seems not to have progressed further than the unrecognisable and formless scribbling stages typically seen at 2.5-3 years, even though in all other areas their development appears to be roughly in line with expectations.

All of the above may (but only MAY) indicate one of several conditions including dysgraphia.

Trained Ashfield Childcare Centre personnel would always spot potential indicators of such and bring them to the attention of the child’s parents together with appropriate recommendations.