MAKING MARKS: What to watch for, and HOW to Help!
On Monday we talked about what to say when your toddler hands you a page of scribbles: describe it, don't ask what it is. This week I want to look at two things parents often ask me next: what is actually going on in those scribbles, and what can I give my toddler to draw with?
Picture a toddler at the table with a thick crayon, their whole arm sweeping across the paper. Maybe they're standing rather than sitting, maybe making a sound with every stroke. Are they drawing a picture? Not really. They're discovering that their movement leaves a mark, and at this age, that discovery is everything.
What got me thinking about this was a short video of Aelita Andre, who was painting seriously by the age of two, completely absorbed in her own little studio (link at the end). Most of our toddlers won't have a studio! But they don't need one. They need space, a few good materials, and an adult who lets them get on with it.
Stage, NOT Age
The researcher Rhoda Kellogg collected thousands of children's drawings and found that all children move through the same stages, in the same order. For the first three years, only the earliest ones apply. The ages are a rough guide; what matters is your child, their hands and how much chance they've had to make marks.
Stage | Roughly when | What you'll see |
Random scribbling | First marks, up to about 2 | Marks go every which way. Your child may not even look at the paper. It's all about the feel of the crayon in the hand. |
Controlled scribbling | Growing towards 2 | They connect the movement of the arm with the mark, and start to steer it. It may look the same to you, but it's a big step: hand and eye are working together. |
Placement | From around 2 | The eyes guide the hand. Marks go somewhere on purpose: the middle, one side, a corner, often the same spot again and again. |
Rough shapes and naming | Around 3 | Scribbles start to look like shapes, and your child may give them a name. This is the end of the birth-to-three journey, not the beginning. |
Very few children under three draw something an adult would recognise, and it's not necessary for them to do so. Circles, suns and the first "people" usually belong to the years after three. If they come early, enjoy them. But they're not the goal.
It's the whole body, not just the hand
For a toddler, making marks is a whole-body experience: the whole arm goes into it, often with a sound or a rhythm. Choosing a colour, dabbing, a finger in the paint, maybe even a taste: for them, that is the work. And those dots, lines, loops and zigzags aren't "just scribbles". They're the building blocks of every drawing, and every letter, still to come.
How to help
My motto has always been: we help more by helping less. Here's one way to start with a younger toddler. You don't need an art cupboard, just a few good things, set out so your child can manage them on their own.
• Tape a large sheet of thicker A3 paper to the table. Little ones aren't yet using their other hand to hold the paper still.
• Start with one thick crayon: a chunky wax "stubbie" or a block crayon. One colour is plenty at first.
• Let them stand. Big movements need room, and many toddlers draw better on their feet.
• Take it outside. Chalk on the path is perfect for big arm movements.
• Show them how, slowly and without words. Sit beside them and, on a separate piece of paper, make just one or two slow, clear marks, so they can see how to hold the crayon and how much pressure it takes to leave a mark. Then step back and let them take over on their own paper.
Sit back and watch
I know how hard this one is! But the best way to understand what your child is doing is simply to watch: be still and quiet, and try not to step in or comment. Afterwards, write a line or two on the back of the page:
• where on the paper the marks went
• how their movements changed as they worked
• any sounds or words they made
Add the date and their age in years and months. If they're not talking yet, write a short description of what they did, rather than giving it a title they didn't give it. Do this for a few months and you'll see the stages above unfold in front of you.
Why I'd leave out the colouring books
This is the one I feel most strongly about. Colouring books, stencils and "this is how you draw a house" all hand a child an adult's idea of what a drawing should look like. Over time, that is what stops so many children drawing freely, and it starts much earlier than most of us realise: in these first three years.
The same goes for our words. The first experience of anything leaves a lasting impression. The first time a child hears "That doesn't look like a dog", they learn that their marks aren't good enough. So, just as we talked about on Monday, describe what you see, and let the marks be theirs.
SO Remember...... These first marks matter!!
A big sheet of paper, one good crayon, and an adult who watches quietly and describes what they see. That's all your toddler needs to lay the foundation for drawing, for writing, and for showing you who they are.
Trust them. They know what they're working on, even when we can't see it yet.
And now I can hear you asking: "Should I keep all these scribbles? Should I display them?" That's exactly where we're going next, so watch this space.
Missed Monday's post? The Scribbling Period: why ‘What is it?’ might be the wrong question has five things to say instead.
Sources and inspiration
• Aelita Andre: what if you gave a child their own art studio? (Sally Schneider, Improvised Life, 2011). The video in this post, of a two-year-old absorbed in paint, is what inspired this follow-up.
• B4 Early Years Coalition, Department of Education, Tasmania (Di Nailon & Bronwyn Tamplin): Making Marks: The Development of Children's Drawing, the Making Marks exhibition guide, and Showcasing Marks: Curating Young Children's Art Exhibitions (2021). Free at publicdocumentcentre.education.tas.gov.au.
• Rhoda Kellogg, Analyzing Children's Art.
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