Have you ever tried to "do" art with a toddler? Let's face it this little budding Picasso's art may not be unique enough for the Metropolitan Museum of Art or even the Louvre, but it is worthy enough to grace the walls of our home. This is my then 3-year-old son, "Scooter" first drawing and I love it. We had just concluded a week long lesson on All About Me. One of the last things the lesson suggested, was to have your child lie down on butcher paper while you trace the outline of their body. Once the outline was complete, have your child use crayons, markers or paint to draw what they think they look like. I told Scooter to draw himself, they way he looks. I told him to color it however he wanted. He was so excited! He ran into the down stairs bathroom to looked at himself in the mirror he then grabbed his markers and started to color. Not inside the lines, not even inside his well traced silhouette. I would continue to watch as he colored, intermittently running back to the bathroom to see what he looked like. Once he was finished he asked his sister to draw his eyes. He could not wait for his father to come home to show him his picture. The following week, he wanted to draw. Not color in any of the many coloring books in our home nor did he want the latest coloring sheets from the internet. He just wanted to draw. The dining room chairs, Paw Patrols, his family, the neighbor's dog, everything. Something had sparked the artist in him. The ability to just do art his way. Our home is full of drawings by Scooter and they are more sophisticated than his earlier works. He loves to draw, paint and build. He is currently working on a collect of "intricate" robot drawings. At six-years-old he still may not be ready for a museum, yet but one thing is for sure. That day, the spark of creativity was ignited.
- Nicole Avery
