The benefits of drawing for children – the impact on development

For an adult who is still “out of the loop,” a child’s scribbling in a baby’s sweatshirt seems like something that doesn’t make much sense. However, after reading the article, it should become clear to such people that the ability to think and analyze, using the resources and capacity of the brain, largely originates in these attempts of visual creativity.

The benefit of drawing is confirmed not only by the experience of parents, teachers and parents, but also by the scientifically proven facts of the studies that were conducted in this direction.

7 scientific reasons in favor of the drawing for children

The development of fine motor skills

Many parents know about the development of fine motor skills for successful early speech development in their child, but it doesn’t stop there. The skill of performing small but varied finger movements contributes to the development of many qualities. The University of Texas A M Research Group conducted a series of experiments on children who performed drawing tasks. The study found that the greater the success in the quality of a child’s drawing skill, the better:

1. Better will be his calligraphy and the ability to write in general;

2. Higher scores on such characteristics of the vestibular apparatus as coordination, sense of balance and dexterity of movements;

3. The range of spatial thinking abilities and general creativity is more enhanced.

In addition, the relationship between pencil skills when drawing a picture and the ability to clearly orient themselves in time with the ability to plan based on this was also established by experts in this study.

Influence of drawing on speech

By teaching the use of felt-tip pens and pencils, you can solve two important tasks at once:

1. A vast number of tactile receptors are concentrated at our fingertips. From them to the brain come constant signals of sensation, the wider the range and variety of signals, the earlier in the brain begin to develop and strengthen the neural connections that are in the brain department responsible for speech, since this department is in close proximity to the area to which the signals from the receptors in the hands. The greater the stimulation of this area of the brain, the greater its effect on the activation of neural connections responsible for the development of speech.

2. In addition, the process of drawing creates an incentive for the child to be more speech active. Children have a need to talk about what they want to depict, and by demonstrating the result, get feedback on it. The adult should actively participate in the discussion of the drawing process, asking guiding and accompanying questions and expressing interest in the child’s actions. By doing this, the adult trains children in the development of speech and their creative thinking.

The development of intelligence through drawing

In the works of such scientists as C. Lamprecht, J. Friedrichs, A. Klein, and J. Friedrichs. Luke, Z. Lewinstein, J. Ruhm, K. Ricci, K. Even at the end of the XIX century Bill gave a detailed explanation that the drawing itself is a complex product of the higher activity of the human intellect. This activity is based on the intensive nature of the thought processes associated with the need of the brain to compare and deduce comparisons between a large number of samples, drawing associative conclusions with reality through observation, which requires a child, even very young, to build a concept of the image created.

This activity is associated with the intuitive formation of associative thinking, which later forms the logical inferences. Thus the first outlines reminding, even remotely, of the object the child has tried to depict are already a considerable step in this direction. At the same time, it is easily achievable at home, without any additional training with the child.

Drawing and memory

Another important bonus of the practice of drawing is the development of your child’s memory. Even the simplest drawing of any object will need to engage the memory to remember how it should look. The process that involves memory, associative and figurative thinking, and attention at the same time is called conceptual visualization, and drawing without it is impossible. It is memory that is most actively involved in drawing.

Accordingly, the more time a child spends on working with paints, felt-tip pens, crayons and other “means of visual mastery”, the more of it will be spent on training the memory which will retrieve all the details of the image to implement them in the drawing.

Drawing and creative thinking

The word creativity came into our everyday life relatively recently. However, those qualities about which the well-known Soviet scientist-psychologist of the 30s-40s of the last century L.V. Lomonosov, and the famous psychologist of the 20th century spoke, have already taken a considerable step.s. Vygotsky in his works describing the process of drawing in children as forming their development of imagination and fantasy may well be attributed to this definition.

He especially emphasized the importance of the playful moment. In order to depict something, a child needs a vivid emotional idea or a story to be drawn. Then he or she shares it with an adult and expects feedback.

Responsive information and will influence the development of this very creative thinking. If you ignore the drawing or get off with a couple of routine phrases for praise, then you can’t expect any effective dynamics of creative imagination development in a child. If you show participation, take an active interest in the subject, and later help make up new subjects for sketches, then you can achieve good results in this direction.

Spatial perception and drawing

The ability to draw and copy pictures comes later to the child, and the ability to repeat the patterns suggested in the drawing is one of the signs of readiness for school. In order to depict something independently, it is necessary to “turn on” the imagination.

What is called such a simple word for us actually involves complicated processes in the brain, which needs to correlate cause and effect relationships. Which are based, in turn, on a visual-spatial perception and even oriented by time.

Now drawing and art therapy are seen as an effective and relevant tool even for children with visual problems, as can be seen from the materials of the scientific and practical conference “Science and Society” held in 2019.

Also, experts say that most children who like to draw a lot, grow up to show ability in the exact sciences, from mathematics to physics, as well as in the natural sciences – from chemistry to geography.

Influence of drawing on self-esteem

In many ways, adults have certainly forgotten what it’s like to be a child. Often, therefore, when a child with a certain degree of pride demonstrates his “immortal canvas” on which it is not very clear what is depicted the reaction of adults leaves much to be desired.

Art therapy specialists say that adults’ praise and support of the child’s efforts and aspirations should be expressed unequivocally, and there should certainly be no criticism of his/her artistic abilities. In this case, the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence will be formed in the right way.

In child psychology, there is a well-known fact that prior to school age, an exaggerated self-esteem for a child is the norm. As a child grows up, his or her self-esteem is aligned with the adequate perception of oneself in society. The infant must think of itself as the best and the champion!

Specialists of the interdisciplinary scientific forum Empirical Studies of the Arts believe that preschool children do not need to be specially trained in drawing. What they depict is a reproduction of their personality traits, emotions and feelings, and not an attempt to depict precisely the world around them.

At what age should one begin “immersion into painting

It is not necessary to be too hasty with the question of drawing. Most specialists advise to acquaint a baby with drawing no earlier than at the age of eight months, on condition that the baby will be able to sit up confidently. You should immediately adjust to the fact that the karapuz will get dirty all around, and start the “practice of painting” is better with finger paints, the same sheet of paper is better to pick up as large a format.

Many psychologists practicing art therapy are of the opinion that it is not desirable to teach the child to represent objects of the world around them until the age of school – clouds, flowers, a house or geometric shapes, in order not to lose the mood for drawing.

The preschooler all the same is not able to transfer the image having made a drawing according to the sample. For a long time, until the child reaches the next age “leap” in the formation of his thinking, which occurs just in 7-8 years old, the drawing for children is a way to transfer their visual and tactile impressions received from the depicted object and fixed in memory of it. A child under 7-8 years of age draws precisely “from memory,” not “from nature. If some details of an object or a person’s face, for example, are not fixed in children’s memory at this age, they will miss them in the drawing, no matter how much you try to twist the image or the face itself in front of them.

The period when a child is just beginning to master the “art” is called the period of doodle painting, and it is divided into age stages. It is important to avoid blocking these processes in a child:

1. Doodles have a chaotic nature in their depiction,– up to one year. The period in which a child has barely learned to hold a pencil and simply pokes it at a sheet of paper, taking genuine joy from the fact that the pencil leaves its mark. In this period, the adults close to the baby should with a pronounced positive reaction to what is happening form a feedback with him and stimulate him to further advance in the matter of “fine art”.

2. The scribbles become circular, – age 1-2 years. This is the time when a child begins to recognize the relationship between his conscious movements and what comes out under their control on a sheet of paper from a pencil. As a result, we have, – circles, lines and curls with squiggles. If adults try to rush things and try to teach their child to draw objects correctly at this age, like the house square and the sun round, it will lead to a blockage in the baby’s figurative thinking.

3. Doodles move into the “advanced” category,– 3 years of age, less often 2. The last period before you start, drawing, which will already be an image of the real world. As a rule, it begins just before or during the first “three-year age crisis,” when the child changes his or her thinking and begins to perceive himself or herself separately from the world.

In the squiggles, lines, and irregular circles that he himself has drawn, he begins to discover meaning and to assign some meaning and interpretation to them. For the process of drawing to continue to bring joy and pleasure to the baby, adults need to stimulate his or her self-esteem. Arrange a “display of his work” on the wall at home, even if it’s a doodle “about nothing”. admiring and admiring them and proudly showing them to all friends and acquaintances who come to visit.

A conscious desire to depict the real world objects will be associated with the next age crisis of 7-8 years old and a new change in the child’s thinking. You can read about all the stages of growing up and the associated changes in thinking from psychotherapist A.Kourpatov in his book.

During this period, the child develops the need to get an assessment of his or her work from an adult in order to improve the results of the work. During this period, you can consider the advisability of taking up drawing lessons on a professional basis, in a circle, art studio or art school.

This article is based on the following books: Vygotsky L.s. “Imagination and creativity in childhood”, A. Kourpatov, “The Happy Child. Universal rules “and materials for teachers and educational practice of the staff of the Solnyshko Children’s Home of the RK.