All journeys begin with the first tiny step. This also holds true for a child who is embarking on their journey into the magical world of colours!🌈

For children, scribbling is one of their first triumphs in the field of art. Every stage of the drawing process has its own allure and significance. We can learn a lot about children's joys, dreams, fears, hopes, etc. through their drawings. They assist in displaying their own special and precious personalities. To us, it could seem to be a mess, merely a scribble or lines and dots. For children, the creative process matters more than the finished product! 🤗

Try to comprehend your child's drawing; it may provide you with important insight into the state of mind of your child. The meaning of your child's artwork will shine through the various phases. It's crucial for parents to recognize and acknowledge their children's early creativity skills and effort. Encourage them by using positive affirmations. Their artistic evolution can be seen from their very first scribbling to their final stick-figure sketches. Every phase has a unique beauty to it! 🌹

Early exposure to artistic expression and activities is crucial because art helps children define themselves. Dabble Chunkies are just the right size for your kids to start with as they can grasp the chunky crayons easily and explore! Dabble Paints for toddler Kids are also a great art supply to help in the scribbling process with Chubby brushes. 🖌️

Moving on to the different stages of drawing for toddlers-
Listed below are the characteristics of the various developmental stages of children's drawing. These are not set in stone as children develop at their own unique rate. Developmental milestones vary from child to child! Let them explore art in their own beautiful time!

  • Scribbling Away! (15 months - 2.5 years)

Oh, the joy on a child's face when they hold their first crayon or chunkies! A whole new world of opportunities and limitless imagination can be found in art.

Even though the scribbles may seem insignificant to adults, it could mean considerably more to kids. The scribbling may not make much sense at this point, but what matters is the process and the tales that emerge from it. Even simple doodles have significance!

According to psychologists, what children express while sketching is what counts as art rather than the actual act of creating. In this stage, motor coordination is explored and improved. By drawing and colouring alongside kids, you can encourage them to scribble!🖍️

Exploring vertical lines and circles- Your child may begin drawing vertical lines anywhere between the ages of 18 and 24 months. Children begin to trace horizontal and circular patterns; adults can explain this to them by singing., "The wheels on the bus go round and round; let's draw those patterns with our crayons. Yayy!" Dabble Chunkies are the best companion! These chunkies are easy to grasp and help build fine motor skills.

Children are explorers, therefore much of what they do is an attempt to teach them how things work. Therefore, it's crucial for us as parents to establish certain fundamental rules early on. Explain to your child that “crayons are for colouring”, and show them how they work. Colouring also requires a room-an Art Space much as eating requires a dining area. Your little one will benefit from knowing the proper places. You'll be pleasantly surprised to learn that your youngster will now only use colour to express herself in the environment you've established for her.

Even better would be to set up a special Dabble Art station for them with Dabble Art supplies like chunkies, crayons, paint, chubby brushes, glue, art roll, etc. so they can freely explore art and parents don't have to worry about the walls or furniture getting dirty or about the toxic chemicals present in regular paint, crayons, etc. because Dabble is totally and utterly child-safe & toxin-free!! Dabble art roll is the perfect canvas for your little one! Kids can scribble away on the large art roll and need not worry about the paper tearing as these are made with high-quality plotter paper! 🎨

Between the ages of 23 and 25 months, they may learn to hold a crayon with their thumb and fingers so that the crayon tip and thumb are both pointed downward toward the paper. Children will have more control over their markings because of this grasp. They'll probably still use a fist grasp on occasion, especially when making bold or intense marks. Among milestones, grasp is one of the most variable! ✨

Dabble has made the scribbling process even better with organic crayons that are made of Beeswax and coconut oil, which are completely toxin-free and kid-safe. Dabble Chunkies are made of the perfect size that helps toddlers grasp the crayon to colour their hearts out. 

After extensive research, Dabble has the perfect crayons to help your child move from grasp (Dabble Chunkies for 1 year+)  to grip (Dabble Playart crayons for 2.5 years +).

Fun fact: There is a day dedicated to scribbles, National Scribble Day, which is held on March 27. This day celebrates the creativity and artistic merit of scribbling. Let's celebrate this every day! 📝

  • Preschematic stages  (2.5 – 4.5 years old) 

Schemas are behaviors that children go through when they are exploring the world and trying to find out how things work. At this point in their artistic development, kids are starting to make connections between the forms they draw and the physical world around them. Circles and lines can be seen as specific things that the child is physically mindful of. A child establishes the initial connection between drawing and expressing during this time. Let us also look at the benefits of drawing-

  • It builds a child’s fine motor skills
  • Develops hand-eye coordination
  • Develops creative expression through free drawing
  • It is the foundation of pre-writing skills
  • It builds a child’s attention span
  • Develops cognitive understanding of concepts

This is the perfect stage to introduce your child to Dabble Chunky Glue which is 100% child-safe with a multi-sensory formulation and Dabble Chubby brushes. Chubby brushes help improve the grip that acts as a precursor to writing and is ideal for small hands with no strain on the hands and they can have easy brush control. Let their colours make some noise!! 📢

  • The portrayal of objects and figures and spatial awareness  (4.5-6 years)

At the Schematic stages, a few changes that might be noticed are-

  • Children use distinct shapes to express various objects around them.
  • Drawings at this level are distinguished from one another.
  • Around this age, one of the more noticeable developments in children's drawings is the addition of a baseline to group items in space, like the sun in the sky and children playing around on land.
  • Objects no longer appear to be hovering around the page as they did in earlier attempts at drawings by kids. 
  • Children now recognize the similarities among the items they make and that each one has a certain location on the ground.
  • Objects of importance are often drawn larger than objects of lesser importance.
  • As children grow and mature, their drawings will become more detailed and reflect the world around them. 🌍

CONCLUSION

Art is no longer pre-defined the way it once was. Limit your children's exposure to colouring books and resist the urge to offer them role models to copy. These do nothing but sap natural creativity. Just like we are encouraged to "think out of the box "- Parents, support your children when they colour out of the lines and unleash their creativity, and let them explore the magical world of Art! 🥳

Kids begin to strive for optical authenticity in their drawings around the age of  9 or 10. It's important to note that these progressions don't occur immediately; rather, they are frequently distinguished by tiny sub-stages or focal points where young children may exhibit characteristics of two phases in a single drawing.

We cannot expect our children to grow into strong, beautiful individuals without nourishment. Just as a sapling grows under favorable conditions, our kids need the appropriate learning experiences and development to bloom into their finest selves.😇

Dabble is here for you..every step of the way and at every age, to encourage your little budding artist. The famous Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky once said  "There is no 'must' in art because art is FREE". We want our little ones to experience freedom! There is no such thing as the “perfect” picture or work of art!👩🏻‍🎨

Let them create art from the heart! ❤️

Happy Dabbling!🎨