Many in childhood love to draw, but with age they cease to feel a craving for creativity. Life around talked with Anna & Kegeles, an art eductor of City & Country school, and learned how to praise a child for drawings, how to support him if the picture is not very good, and how not to interfere with his drawing.
Anna Kegeles
City & Country art teacher
Why drawing is important for children
All children always draw - this is inherent in nature. If a child wants to watch only cartoons, it means that he has some problems, and it is worth discussing them. Drawing for a child is a way of knowing.
The parent needs to support this desire, not to interfere, trust, respect and be sensitive. In the process - to be near, because young children, for example, want the parent to be in close proximity with them.
When the children are small, for two or three years, they draw "kalya-mala", and this is what they should draw. We need to give them freedom, we must respect their natural growth. If you give children freedom, they themselves go from one stage to another without the help of an adult. The main value in drawing is self-understanding, self-expression and creativity.
Then, at the age of four to five, they begin to draw figuratively: when the child is still doing “kalya-mala”, and tells his mother that he has a castle there. Then, by the age of seven, he begins to engage in figurative drawing. Then he encounters some expectations from his drawing, with drawings of other children that he likes best, and frustration begins. The child develops in a spiral and on each of its branches is faced with a large number of feelings. At this moment, you need to support him: to give him anger, to give the opportunity to tear a sheet, throw it away. You need to wait until the child is ready to try again. Children try and find their growth point.
How to evaluate children's drawings
Children all the time come up to mom, show their drawings and ask how she is drawing. It happens that mom, without turning, answers that it is very beautiful. But this is not enough: the child needs attention - so that mom stops, looks at his drawing, sees him behind this drawing.
I have three feedback methods. The first is a concrete description of what I see on the sheet. That is, it is very important for children to hear what their parents see, and I can say: "I see a red curving line and a circle." The second is when I really liked something, and I say specifically what it is: for example, how the leaves are located on a tree. The third is to ask the child a question. This will help to learn more about their children, because they can talk about their drawing for a very long time.
How to develop creativity
With children of all ages you can go to museums. But you cannot go to the museum with a child, telling only the historical part. Excursions also need to be adapted for children, asking questions “What do you see?”, “What do you feel?”, “What emotions does what you see cause?”. We see few works, because this is not a hike until the back is sore and the legs fall off. Children talk more, discuss what they saw with adults and among themselves. Children can be shown albums with works by different artists - this helps to be inspired and learn how others painted.
Often children themselves know better than us what is beautiful and what is not. Adults only need to motivate children to find their right and beautiful. The child must independently come to an assessment of his drawing. Here, not only the result is important, but also the process of creating and comprehending the picture.
When a child draws with his parents, he needs to see that everyone is comfortable: we are not in a hurry, we have time, we are sitting, we are busy, we are creating. If mom starts to fuss and wait for him to finish, this interferes with the process.
Sometimes a child does not know how to draw something, in this case you cannot pick up a pencil and draw for it, you need to explain everything with words, or rather with questions, learn about his presentation. A difficult task can be divided into several simple ones. So, if it is difficult to draw a dog, you need to ask the child about the shape of the head of the dog, which body, what color it is. You can’t let the child redraw his drawing, because if he doesn’t succeed, he will begin to worry.
COVER: Dasha Skrebtsova
