A banana and a rocket ship
Today I asked my grandson's Mum for a few photos of him scribbling, and along with the photos came a story I just had to share. He's 2 years and 4 months old, and there he was at his little table with a small book of blank pages and a cup holding just a couple of wax crayons. No colouring book, no instructions. Just paper, a pen and time.
He started with blue. On one page, big looping circles, round and round, over and over. On the other page, a few strong strokes up and down. Then he went back for the yellow and looped it right over the blue circles, steering the crayon exactly where he wanted it. One idea on each page, placed with purpose.
Then came the part of the story I love most. He turned to his Mum, pointed at the circles and announced: "Banana!"
A moment later he pointed to the other page and said "Zoom!", his word for a rocket ship, from the song he loves: "I'm a little rocket ship, going to the moon. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… ZOOM!"
Would you have guessed?
I certainly wouldn't have! If any of us had jumped in with "What a lovely ball!" or "Is that a tree?", we would have been completely wrong. No adult would ever have known those circles were a banana (a fruit he loves to eat), or that those strokes were a rocket on its way to the moon.
That's exactly why we don't guess, and we don't evaluate. The meaning belongs to the child, and he'll tell us when he's ready. All we need to do is watch, describe what we see, and listen.
Right on the edge of a new stage
In Making Marks I wrote about the stages of scribbling. In these few photos you can see him right on the edge of the next one: controlled circles, marks placed on purpose, one idea per page, and now, names. Often the name comes after the drawing, and it may change tomorrow. A banana today might be a sun next week, and that's perfectly fine.
And this is exactly the kind of page worth keeping: dated, with "banana" and "zoom" written on the back. More on keeping and displaying those precious first marks next time.
Read more
Making Marks: what to watch for, and how to help: the stages of scribbling, birth to three.
The Scribbling Period: why ‘What is it?’ might be the wrong question: what to say instead.
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