Children's Art Training Materials · Lower

Author: Zhang Rong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: When adults see children's drawings, they often say, "What are you drawing? I don't understand" or "That's not right. What are you drawing?" Hearing these words, my heart aches. These innocent hearts are hurt, and their creative enthusiasm is unknowingly crushed in the cradle. Here, I call on parents to learn to stand in the child's shoes, to see and appreciate with "childlike eyes," so that children can trust and respect you more. If you want to enter the "child's art world" with your child, there are three things you must do:
(1) Understand the child's motivation for drawing, grasp their creative intent, and participate wholeheartedly;
(2) Praise and encourage the child, but make it meaningful—don't be vague or exaggerated;
(3) Broaden the child's knowledge, cultivate their ability to observe things, tell them stories, and enrich their language. For example: Children in the scribbling stage (1–3 years old) may draw tangled lines on the paper. Instead of shouting, "This is a mess! What a waste!"—please don't do that. Instead, 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 the child'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, like a banana. It looks like there are people in the moon, maybe a rabbit." Such open-ended conversations can expand and extend the child's creative space, greatly helping to develop 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 what they wish for through drawing. For example: "Shenzhou 5 went 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 want to go together." Share the details in the child's drawing carefully—what, where, and who—and give them full autonomy, allowing their imagination to soar freely in a wide space of thought!
Finally, let me talk about two common misunderstandings parents have about children's drawings:
(1) Drawings must look realistic. During my teaching, many parents often ask me with worry, "Teacher, why does what he (she) draws always look different from yours? This child might not be cut out for this." My answer is, "Why must it look realistic? Have you not noticed that your child's drawing is better than mine? Is his drawing more like a master's? The teacher's role is just to guide. Don't force the child—let things happen naturally. As long as the child makes progress, they have the right to be encouraged. So, please don't use 'realistic or not' to limit the 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.