Children's Art Training Materials · Chinese

Author: Zhang Rong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: When adults see children's drawings, they often exclaim, "What are you drawing? I don't understand," or "That's not right. How can you draw like that?" Hearing these words, my heart aches. These innocent hearts are hurt, and their creative enthusiasm is unknowingly stifled in their early stages. Here, I call on parents to learn to stand in their children's shoes, to see and appreciate with "childlike eyes," so that children can trust and respect you more. To enter the "child's art world" with your child, you must do the following:
(1) Understand children's motivations for drawing, grasp their creative intentions, and participate with enthusiasm;
(2) Praise and encourage children, but make your words meaningful—avoid vague or exaggerated praise;
(3) Broaden children's knowledge, cultivate their ability to observe, tell them stories, and enrich their language. For example: Children in the scribbling stage (1–3 years old) may draw tangled lines on the page. Instead of shouting, "This is such a mess—it's a waste!" (Never do that!), take a moment to calmly and enthusiastically point out, "Wow, these lines are so long, like long roads! This line is like a curved rainbow! This line is like a moon! It's so lively!" Such inspiration will spark children's interest in drawing. When children enter the naming scribbling stage (3–4, 5 years old), they will associate the images on the paper with things in their daily lives. They might say, "The moon hangs in the sky, like a boat or a banana. It looks like there are people in the moon, maybe a rabbit." Such open-ended conversations can expand and extend children's creative space, greatly benefiting their abstract thinking skills and problem-solving abilities. Children in the pre-schema stage (3, 5–5 years old) and the schema stage (5–8 years old) will express what they know and desire through drawing. For example: "Shenzhou 5 took off into space and reached the moon," "When will Shenzhou 6 be built?" "I want to go to space like Uncle Yang Liwei," "Mom, Dad, and I are going too." Share the details in their drawings carefully—what, where, and who—and give them full autonomy, allowing their imagination to soar freely in a spacious space of thought!
At the end, let me talk about two common misunderstandings parents have about children's drawings:
(1) Drawing must look realistic. During my teaching career, many parents often ask me with worry, "Teacher, why does what he/she draws always look different from yours? This child might not have the talent for it." My response is, "Why must it look realistic? Have you not noticed that your child's drawings are better than mine? Are his/her drawings closer to those of a master? The teacher's role is just to guide. Don't force your child—let things happen naturally. As long as there is progress, there is the right to be encouraged. So, please don't use 'realistic or not' to limit your child's creative wings."
(2) Children's drawings don't need to be learned. To transform those natural, innocent scribbles into a good piece of work, knowledge and shaping skills must be accumulated. Without accumulation, imagination cannot be realized.