John's development of drawing has been interesting and mysterious to me. He copied out his name perfectly by himself (I wasn't looking) when he was late two or early three, then nothing again until age four (no letter recognition or anything). And almost overnight he recognizes almost the whole alphabet. He drew stick figures for a whole day a couple years ago, then nothing since then. I can count on one hand how many times he's since drawn a smiley face, but it's usually been in impermanent media (usually steam in the mirror); it's almost like he doesn't want a permant record of his imperfect, budding skills. Even at nearly 4-1/2, John just scribbles and doesn't attempt to stay inside the lines--but when asked, he can copy geometric shapes with no difficulty.
Then two days ago he came up with this fascinating perspective! First of all, he wrote his name backwards--I don't know why because he's been writing his name forward for a few months without transposing.
The drawing is of our den. The circles at the top of the square are the can lights in the ceiling. The tall rectangle on the right side that emerges from the top of the den is our chimney. The square on the left side is the train table on which the children play.
When I poke around online to learn about drawing development in children, I don't even know where this fits in! Is it landscape drawing? (See
here and
here and
here.)
It's one of the most interesting developments I have witnessed in my own children. It's also why I can't seem to throw away enough of their drawings. Each week, there is something new to Will's perspective in his drawings (mostly of Thomas the train). He started drawing houses this winter and even colored in fire in fireplaces. But what was interesting was how he got the "color" of fire correct with adding in blue to the red, yellow and orange he had already drawn! My 5 1/2 year old is a copier, so he learns after his younger brother. STill interesting. Have fun as John experiments with drawing. :)
ReplyDeleteMiriam did something similar around that age. She drew a picture of a dining table - from above. you could see simple lines around the rectangle which were the tops of chairs, and then place settings. I thought it was neat, too!
ReplyDeleteHi katherine; All children in their development draw mirror image spelling...I know not the reason but they all do it...it goes away as fast as it appears. It is normal childhood development. Now if they do this following the period of learning where they write cursively (not letters) it becomes a different case...that is dyslexia which is a learning disability and one that can be uncovered. He is doing very well from what I observe, seemingly anxious to learn....he is a super great child says his Grandmom! love to all
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