THE SURPRISING BENEFITS OF DRAWING FOR TODDLERS

Drawing is one of the first forms of expression children use. They may use paint and colours to create art even before telling meaningful words.
There are so many benefits of drawing for toddlers, no wonder it’s encouraged by many Early Childhood Education experts.

Today, we are going to talk about this ever so popular topic, benefits of drawing for toddlers, focusing on its benefits and how we can foster a love of art in young minds.

Would you believe that your toddler’s scribbling or random paint strokes are the first steps towards varied skill acquisitions?

Yes, sometimes it’s hard to believe, but those free expressions they make today may well define who they will be and what future holds for them.

Benefits of Drawing for Toddlers

Enhancing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination

Using their hands for holding crayons, pencils or paintbrush improves their fine motor skills which will eventually make them ready for writing.

Moreover, brushstrokes, mixing colour, drawing outline improves hand-eye coordination.

Related article : Hand-eye coordination activities

Encouraging self-expression and communication

Expressing their emotions and feelings is another benefit of drawing. At this young age, they may not be able to explain exactly how they feel about certain people, places and situations. So ask them to draw pictures and try to identify a pattern.

ex: Ask them to draw their childcare centre, and by looking at colours and shapes they use, you can understand if that is a happy place for them.

Going a bit further than that, drawing is used as a mode of communication after traumatic experiences to gather information and to help the child process their big feelings about it.

Boosting cognitive and problem-solving skills

Mixing colours, deciding the size and shape of objects, right colour for right object takes a lot of thinking from your toddlers part.

If they are drawing their family, they decide mom and dad to be taller and children to be smaller and the baby in one’s arms which display really good observation.

May be they have already noticed who is tallest in the family, or things like big brother is the tallest kid etc that shows they have acquired early measurement skills.

When drawing a home for the family, they realise the whole family needs to be inside so it has to be a bigger house.

As they get older, they will use their primary colours to mix and make more specific colours for their drawing which shows their problem-solving skills.

Related article : Cognitive development activities

Fostering creativity and imagination

Drawing is a form of free expression and it has no rules for the kids. All they need to do is imagine and be creative.

They will draw pink elephants, green sky, black water, flying trains and may come up with interesting reasons why they are so.

Imagination is a powerful skill which paves the way for creativity.
In fact, here they get the powerful message that it’s ok to think differently.

Related article : Develop creativity skills

Promoting emotional development and stress relief

Being able to create a piece of art and showing that to parents is a great satisfaction for kids. It makes them truly happy helping them to stay away from negative emotions.

Ways to Encourage Drawing in Toddlers

Providing the appropriate tools and materials

Provide them with chunky crayons, chalk, colour pencils and brushes specifically designed for easy grip. Make art supplies readily available in a corner. Making an art and craft corner in their play area is ideal.

Offering a variety of subject matter and themes

Encourage them to draw on a variety of themes like nature inspired drawings, figure drawings, abstract drawings and so on. Ex: Autumn leaves, family portrayt, cartoon characters.doodle

Encouraging experimentation and exploration

Let them do things differently and explore the world of art. Instead of paint brushes, they can use fruits, vegetables, leaves, tooth brushes or simply their fingers or palm to make various kinds of art.

Setting a safe, supportive environment

It can get messy sometimes and let them know that it's ok. Also let's appreciate their art without trying to make changes or comparing.

Celebrating and displaying your child's creations

Display your child's art on the wall, or fridge door. Or there are cute ways to make keepsakes with their drawing. Appreciate them using specifics. Ex: Without telling it's a nice drawing, you can say I like the orange shade you have used for the sky. How did you make it?

Tips for Supporting Your Toddler's Drawing Skills

Avoiding comparisons and criticism
Comparisons are criticism are not going to take them anywhere. They will only discourage your kids.
Encouraging independence and autonomy
Always let them decide what they are going to write and what material they are going to use and how it’s going to be done.
Encouraging interactive and collaborative drawing experiences You can assign many kids to draw on the same paper or there are many other ways to have fun drawing as a group.
Incorporating drawing into daily routines and activities

Drawing is a great quiet time activity for kids. If you feel like they are too tired and won’t have a nap, the next best thing is to encourage them to do a quiet time activity.

Likewise, there are so many instances drawing can be incorporated into your routine.
Ex: Chalk drawing on concrete floor outside

Drawing Activities for Toddlers

1. Scribbling and free drawing

We can encourage scribbling and free drawing by making art supplies readily available in an art corner. Jumbo crayons, washable crayons, chalk and colour pencils are must-haves in their art supplies.

2. Tracing and colouring

Tracing and colouring books are ideal for this. Coluring can be made fun letting kids make their fingers, palm, fruits and vegetables.

They can trace leaves, flower petals and colour using natural colouring like beetroot juice.

Mud painting will also be a fun activity for kids.

3. “Draw and tell” storytelling

Drawing pictures while narrating a story is a fun way of adding drawing to children’s activities.

4. Collaborative drawing games

Pictionary is a popular game that kids can play as a group. There one child can draw something they can see on a board and others have to guess it right.

5. Drawing on sand

Use fingers or a stick to draw on a sand tray. This drawing activity can be a great addition to your sensory play time.

6. Drawing and colouring using natural colouring.

Natural colouring like beetroot, berries, mud, tree sap, turmeric can be so fun and exciting to use.

7. Draw with stencils.

This activity gives good exercise to their little hands.

If you don’t have stencils, cookie cutters can also do the job!

Download FREE Colouring Activity Sheets

Conclusion

This article gives you tips to foster a love of drawing and creative expression in young children. There are so many benefits of drawing for toddlers.

Don’t forget to try the drawing activities with your child and share their beautiful drawings with us!