Product Search
Product Menu
Shop Help
Need to talk to someone?
Call us on 08 9313 8884
Shop Safe!
Our site uses 128bit SSL encryption making your shopping experience safe and secure. All prices are shown in Australian Dollars.
Educational Value of Play - Drawing
Drawing
Drawing allows children to express themselves visually. They can show you what they have seen or done or who they have met, how they feel or what they think about. They are wonderful mediums for gaining insight into your child without being invasive of their personal space.
By dating or annotating children's work, it becomes something they can look back on in years to come. But remember this should only be done if your child is happy for you to do so. It can sometimes be seen to children as an interference or an invasion of their space.
Show them the value of their work by mounting selected pieces, or providing them with a special book to collect and display their chosen pieces in. Children enjoy photographing their drawings, and this means storage doesn't become an issue. Digital cameras and computers can be a blessing to those wanting an ordered home!!!!
Having some books of the paintings and drawings of famous artists for children to browse can be very motivational. Taking children to the Art Gallery or exhibitions is an invaluable opportunity to develop children's love and appreciation of art. It is especially beneficial these days with major art galleries having child oriented audio recordings for special exhibitions.
Different children develop drawing skills at different rates as they will pass through different stages of skill development. Broadly these stages of drawing are:
Scribble
Symbolic - they will tell you what/who they have drawn but it bears little resemblance
Recognisable Symbols - objects are still basic but recognisable as to what they are
Visual Realism - when drawn objects closely resemble the actual object.
There are many mediums for children to use to draw. Let them experiment with one or two at a time.
Children can draw using:
Crayons – thick, thin, soft, hard;
Pencils
Watercolour pencils (where they colour like a pencil and then paint over with water to form a painting);
Charcoal
Chalk on pavements, chalkboards or paper (spray paper with hair spray to ‘fix’ so picture doesn’t smudge);
Pens - felt pens; gel pens; ballpoint pens.
Oil Pastels
Similarly let them experiment with different papers/surfaces on which to draw. The popularity of scrapbooking gives us access to a broad range of papers/card.
Children can also experiment with temporary mediums such as making pictures in the sand. Another excellent medium is shaving foam (aerosol). Spray a dob onto a laminated surface and let children spread it out and then create, mush and create again. They will have so much fun and they clean their hands at the same time!!!
Physical
Drawing develops children’s fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as they learn to grip their drawing medium and guide it around the surface. Please encourage the correct pencil grip right from the start.
Texture boards for rubbings add the sense of touch to the activity.
Language/Social Development
Drawing helps children learn to look after their equipment and encourages sharing situations with their playmates.
Children will talk about what they are doing (if you have no idea what they have drawn don’t ask “what is it”!!! Rather ask them to tell you about their drawing).
Maths/Science
Through drawing children learn about colours – the names, how they mix, thick and thin line making and different shapes and become more observant of their environment.
