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Understanding the fascinating world of kid’s drawings

When I began my journey as a Waldorf teacher, one thing I learned about was how much we can learn from looking at kid’s drawings.

Young children go through many developmental milestones like learning to sit, walk, talk, etc. They generally progress through these milestones in a predictable order, though each step–and the timing of each step–reflects their individuality, as well.

In the same way, kid’s drawings follow a predictable pattern of development–with individual variations, as well.

This is the second of three parts of a series on kid’s drawings. In the first part, I shared how I set up for drawing in my early childhood classrooms–including materials, set up, and how to interact with the little ones and their drawings.

Kid’s drawings–the video

I created this video to give you an overview of how kid’s drawings develop from 1 or so up through about 6 years of age. It includes me demonstrating the different types of drawings.

I encourage you to try this yourself and see how it feels. If you can, put your whole self into the drawing and really see what it feels like to, for example, connect a circle for the first time.

An overview of children’s drawings

Here’s a brief overview of how children’s drawings develop. We Waldorf teachers tend to dive deep, but I’m not an expert on this by any means. But I have enjoyed observing children drawing for many years now.

kid's drawings — my version of early stages of drawing

Before 3--The child under 3 tends to draw “scribble scrabble,” but it tends to be round in form. It reminds me of the joy that little ones take in running around in circles. They can fly with the colors on the page. The drawings at this stage are just about the joy of movement and of making marks on the page.

Around 3–In Waldorf-world, we talk about the child having their first sense of being a separate being somewhere around the age of 3 to 3 1/2. This is when the child starts referring to themself as “I.”

This change in consciousness is reflected in their drawings by the closing of a circle (as in my middle drawing). Now there is an inside and an outside, and “I” and “other.”

At this point, the child goes from just experiencing the movement of the crayon in their drawing–or from orienting themselves to their own body–to reaching out into the world.

3 1/2 to 5 The child starts to explore the outer world in a new way, to feel their way into the world, to become more social. In their drawings, you often see the first images of the human being. These often consist of a head with limbs dangling off of it. The child’s consciousness grows from the head down. The limbs reach out like feelers into the world, sometimes branching into numerous fingers and toes.

more kid's drawings — the next phases of drawing

Gradually, the drawings become more consciously formed. Their figures grow a middle, so to speak.

Often, you’ll see ladders and/or spirals in their drawings. The ladders represent our middle realm–our heart and lungs which give us the rhythms of life through breathing and heartbeat. The spiral represents the breathing and the ladder–which may appear on a person, a tree, or even as a ladder–can be seen as the ribcage which holds the rhythmic system. (The children don’t see it this way, of course–this imagery all comes out of their unconscious). You’ll also start to see square shapes, which represent the same thing–in the form of houses, or just square designs like you see on the right side of my drawing. (The children tend to draw these more carefully than I did and color in completely.)

Around 5 The last of the basic shapes to find its way into the children’s drawings is the triangle. The triangle is a shape that brings a lot of balance and stability. The children have reached the earth in a new way. The triangle shows up in the human form, rooftops, all sorts of places.

kid's drawings--triangles — triangle drawings

As the child continues to grow and develop, their drawings become more complex and integrated. I’ve only shown a few simple examples here. But once they have all the shapes, children often draw wonderfully complex and detailed drawings of whatever they think of–from princesses to dragons to trains to garbage trucks and more.

As they approach grade school age, they may become self-conscious about their drawings. The drawings may not look the way they want them to look. This is a natural phase that can be addressed as they enter grade school by teaching some simple skills. But for the young child, it’s best to let them discover on their own.

Feel the love with this Waldorf Valentine’s day circle

I love to celebrate Valentine’s day with little ones. They’re so full of love–and they fill me with love and joy, too.

Valentine's day hearts — Lavender filled hearts–for Valentine’s day or birthdays, or anytime

February–the warmest month of all?

February used to be the dreariest of months for me–the month where I felt like winter would never end. Even Valentine’s day wasn’t enough to lift that feeling of never-ending winter. I lived Chicago for most of my adult life, and if you’ve ever spent a winter there, you know it can be long and dreary,

But then my daughters arrived. Rachel arrived on February 23 and 4 years later, Gabi joined us on February 5. February became (and still is) my favorite month! The whole month became all about love.

And celebrating Valentine’s day became much more fun with them–and later with the little ones and families in my classes.

A Valentine’s day birthday party–or learn from my mistakes!

Well, there was the one year that I decided to celebrate their birthdays together–a Valentine’s day party since it came right between they’re 2 birthdays.

I think they were turning 3 and 7. And they were both mad at me–they wanted their own parties not one together. And then, in my own DIY way, I made 2 piñatas for the party–heart-shaped, of course.

Unfortunately, I made them too thick and after much whacking, they didn’t even have a dent in them. I finally cut them partway open and the treats came out. Sigh! Live and learn, I guess.

Valentine's day piñata — This is not the piñata I made! But it’s beautiful–and I bet it can be broken open!

The Valentine’s day circle

I’ve recorded a Valentine’s day circle that you can do with your little ones. The time stamps are below, if you just want to listen to certain songs.

I demonstrate the game/song “A tisket, a tasket” which is a game that needs at least 3 or 4 people to play. I did my best to demonstrate and explain all by myself–but let me know if you have questions.

If there’s just 2 of you, you could use the song to play a little game of hide and seek with a letter or some other small object–I used a pom pom.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:39 We make a circle of sons and daughters

1:26 The earth is firm

2:07 Good morning, dear earth

3:49 Mail myself to you

5:30 The queen of hearts

6:57 A tisket, a tasket

9:16 How many Valentine’s do you see?

10:09 Five little Valentines

11:34 Lavender Blue

13:18 Some thoughts about this circle–explanations for why and ideas for some variations

You can get the words here:

Waldorf Valentine’s Day Circle for February

Also, here’s a link to my post on how to make paper heart baskets. I originally posted it for May Day–but they’re hearts, so perfect for Valentine’s day, too!

paper heart for valentine's day — They look complicated, but they’re pretty easy (for adults and older kids)

I hope you enjoy this Valentine’s day circle–and that you have a warm February regardless of the weather outside.

Let me know if you have any questions–and I’d love to hear if you enjoy this circle.

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

Children love to draw– do it the Waldorf way!

Most children love to draw! Today I share a video and some thoughts about how you can create a happy, healthy drawing experience for your little one(s). I draw (ha-ha) on my many years of experience as a Waldorf EC teacher. Plus my girls and I did a lot of drawing at home–and we all still love to draw!

The video–how to draw with your kiddos

If you’d rather read than watch, I share my thoughts below.

Let them draw!

I’m going to share about materials and set up below–but I want to start with this part, because to me, it’s the most important part.

Once everything is all set up, and the children know to color only on their paper, just let them go. Resist the urge to comment on what they are drawing or to ask questions. Don’t ask them what happens when they mix red and yellow–let them immerse themselves in the experience and discover.

How to respond when your child shows you their drawing

If they come to show you their drawing, really look at it–see the marks your child made on paper. These marks reflect their stage of development and their wonderful uniqueness.

Often, just a smile and a nod will be enough–after you take a moment to really appreciate what they’ve done. If you must say something, make an observation–“You filled up the whole page!” or “You used a lot of yellow today.”

And I tell you this not because I never do it, but because I know better and always feel surprised when it pops out of my mouth–don’t tell your child it’s a pretty drawing (or ugly or any other adjective). I know it’s hard, but, at least when they’re still little, it’s all about process and not product. Not that we can’t enjoy the product, but we don’t want to focus on it.

Scribble scrabble stories

One of my favorite things is when a little one comes to me with a scribble-scrabble drawing and proceeds to tell me a long story about what the drawing is all about. I listen in wonder as I look at the drawing and see none of what they are telling me–but knowing it is truly their experience. If you are lucky enough to have this happen to you, sit back and listen. When they finish, write it down if you want–for your own memories or to show them when they get older.

And sit down and draw with them sometimes

So many adults feel self-conscious about their drawing skills. We forget how to just have fun with crayons. I invite you to sit down and draw with your child sometimes.

Drawing was part of my weekly rhythm in my classroom. At the beginning of one day during the week, we’d all sit down and draw together. It doesn’t matter what you draw. And the little ones certainly won’t care–althought they’ll probably be interested.

Young children learn through imitation. They know that if you do it, it’s important. They’ll watch what you do and imitate not only your gestures but your feelings. So if you can let yourself play with crayons, they’ll learn to enjoy coloring even more.

If you use stick crayons (more below) and demonstrate a pencil grip–by doing it, not by explaining it!–it will help your child learn this grip, as well (when they’re ready).

So, I invite you to sit with your child and color. And have fun!

The basics of drawing with children

Materials:

Crayons

First, I want to say that we only draw with crayons in our EC classrooms–we don’t have the children draw with pencils, pens, markers, etc.–just crayons.

Use the best quality crayons you can afford. We always used Stockmar brand crayons, but there are lots of nice brands out there. The Stockmar crayons, even though more expensive than Crayolas (which I grew up with) also last longer.

draw with Stockmar crayons — You can find these here

The Waldorf EC teachers who I know think about everything they bring into the classroom. Thus, we come to the great “stick vs. block crayons” debate. Stockmar makes block crayons and stick crayons. There are also other shapes of crayons, too, but we won’t go there today!

Block crayons vs. stick crayons

When I first saw block crayons, I thought they were amazing. I loved using them, loved the way they felt in my hand. But later, when I became a teacher, I came to realize that the more traditionally shaped stick crayons help children develop their pencil grip. The block crayons are actually more appropriate for the grade school and beyond as their different sides, edges, and corners can all be used to make different kinds of marks.

Still, in my classrooms, I usually used both, just to give some variety.

I would start the year with only a few colors of crayons–red, yellow, blue, brown, green–and add a few more as the year went along and the seasons changed. We might add orange, for example, around Halloween.

We didn’t give the children black crayons. The black crayons tend to over power the other colors, so I just stayed away from them at school with the little ones. I use them myself when I draw, and I used them at home for my girls. Experiment for yourself and see what you like.

Paper

When choosing what paper to draw on, again, good quality paper is nice. But sometimes the kids at school (or home) drew so much that I would use regular old printer paper to save some money.

I always encouraged them to draw on both sides of the paper.

When we used individual sheets, I often rounded off the corners to give the paper a softer feel. Try it for yourself and see if you notice a difference.

Instead of using individual sheets of paper, you can also have your child draw in a sketchbook or a Waldorf main lesson book–which looks like this:

you can draw in main lesson books — Waldorf Main lesson books make great drawing books for kids. You can find these here

I sometimes used these lesson books in the classroom. They were a good way to keep a child’s drawings together. If we used loose sheets, each child had a folder to keep all their drawings and paintings in.

A drawing mat

You might want to get a drawing mat to put underneath the drawing paper–to keep the crayon marks of an enthusiastic drawer from getting on your table. You can use a piece of cardboard or pressed board. I’ll share a video on how to make your own out of a brown paper bag and newspaper.

Setting up

I liked to let the children draw anytime during our free play time–unless we were using our table for other activities like baking. To encourage this, I had the drawing boards and paper where the children could reach it. The crayons, however, I kept up high where only the teachers could reach them. You might not need to do this at home, but at school, I needed to keep track of the crayons.

I kept the crayons in little baskets and tried to have one basket per child. No matter how hard I tried, the crayons always got mixed together. Sorting crayons was a regular activity.

And here’s a helpful hint–if you do lose track of the crayons and end up with crayon marks on the table or floor, olive oil works well to remove it. I’d only use it on a hard shiny surface that won’t get stained by oil. But we’d put a little olive oil on a rag and child and adult would rub until all the crayon was gone. We usually had volunteers to help with this task–as we did with most tasks in the classroom. If done with a joyful spirit, anything can be fun. Our kids often remind us of that.

This long, drawn-out post comes to an end

Oh, my! This post is long, and I realize that I could go on and on about drawing. I’ll be sharing two more posts on drawing in the coming weeks. You’ll find the links here when I post them.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my post on watercolor painting with little ones.

I hope you enjoyed this post and feel inspired to draw with your little ones.

Have fun. Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.

And thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

What is body geography–and why it’s important

What is body geography?

The short answer–body geography is knowing where the different parts of your body are.

When a baby is born, they have no orientation as to where they are in space or in relation to themselves. As their senses develop, especially the Four Foundational Senses, the baby discovers their hands–and that those hands belong to them, that they can control them. They go on to discover their feet and eventually they know the whole map of themselves. Then they’re ready to discover the rest of the world!

Why is it important?

Nancy Blanning, my friend and mentor, describes it this way:

[T]he sense of self-movement/proprioception gives the child her first “map” through the experience of body geography. Which are my shoulders, my elbows, my hands? What is their order in my body? Do I know them so well that I do not need to see where hands and arms are to put on my jacket? Can I sense how hard to pull to zip it up?

While self-movement gives us a geography of
the body in relation to itself, balance gives us our
orientation to the earth.
From “Educating the Movement Body” by Nancy Blanning–on page 20 of this Gateways Journal

body geography in action — Body geography in action!

So you can see how important it is to know where are body is in relation to itself–to know which pieces are where. If we haven’t internalized this map of ourselves, we can’t learn to move through space–or much of anything else.

When babies are little, they need lots of time and a safe space to explore their own body. We can’t teach them these things.

2 body geography songs

But once they’ve learned the basics, we can play with body geography. Here are 2 songs to share with your kids.

You probably know the first–Head, shoulders, knees and toes (and the words are below in case you need a refresher). It’s good for littles from around 3 or so and older.

The second song, one I learned from my daughter, Gabi, when she was in first grade, is for kids a little older–maybe 5 and up. But you can try it with littler ones if you want. When I did it with littler ones, they just got confused–but everyone is different! Anyhow, it’s called “Tony Chestnut” And the words are below, too.

Here are the time stamps, in case you want to just listen to the songs:

0:00 Introduction

1:15 Head, shoulders, knees, and toes

2:20 Tony Chestnut

3:10 Conclusion

The words to the songs

I've got head, shoulders, knees, and toes,
knees and toes. 
I've got head, shoulders, knees, and toes, 
knees and toes. 
I've got eyes and ears and mouth and nose, 
I've got head, shoulders, knees, and toes, 
knees and toes. 

Tony Chestnut knows I love you, 
Tony knows, Tony knows 
Tony Chestnut knows I love you, 
That's what Tony knows

A simple knot doll to delight your little one

If you have a cloth napkin, a handkerchief, or just a square of cloth–and if you know how to tie a simple overhand knot–you can make this simple knot doll in just a minute or two. It’s a great trick to have up your sleeve if you’re stuck waiting somewhere. (Actually, I show you two different ways to make them.)

Making a doll out of a square of fabric is kind of magical. It still entertains me!

I used to make these when my girls were little. Back in the days when we were out and about. They were especially useful if we had to wait in a restaurant, waiting room, or in traffic.

I also made them in my classroom sometimes when we needed a change of pace. And taught parents how to make them in my parent-child classes.

Make a simple knot doll–the video

Having some tools in your pocket

It’s good to have some tricks up your sleeve–or in your pocket–to share with little ones. These can be something physical–like a square of cloth or a little finger puppet. Or even a healthy snack. Or it can be a little rhyme or song or story.

I’ve shared some songs, verses, and stories here. Maybe choose one or two that you like and memorize them–or print out the words and keep them in your pocket! Or use some rhymes you remember from your own childhood.

There are lots of great books of nursery rhymes–this is the one I have, that I bought used:

You might not need such a big book–but it’s been useful for me as a teacher. There are, of course, many lovely illustrated versions that you can read with your children. If you are wondering why nursery rhymes, read my post about the wonder of nursery rhymes.

Let me know how your knot dolls come out!

And as always, thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

Waldorf Winter Circle–find joy in the magic of winter

Here’s a winter circle–celebrate the beauty of these cold, snowy days. I put together a whole circle for you to use all or part of. The circle is about 10 minutes long–and there’s about 10 minutes at the end where I talk about the circle–some things for you to consider, some different ways to work with the songs–stuff like that.

Here’s the winter circle

The time marks are listed below in case you’re looking for a specific part.

0:00 Welcome
0:40 Round and round the earth is turning (song)
1:34 Like a leaf or a feather (verse)
1:52 Good morning, dear earth (song)
3:18 Brrr, it’s cold (verse)
4:18 Let’s put on our mittens (verse)
5:14 open the door and out we go (verse)
5:24 let’s go walking in the snow (verse)
6:28 two little yellow birds (verse)
7:27 sledding verse
8:15 Little Jackie Frost (song)
9:25 Round and round the earth is turning (song–lullaby version)
11:39 discussion and tips

And you can get the words here:

Here’s a link to a pdf of the words, if you’d like. It includes all of the words to the songs and the verses, but not the “patter” that goes in between.

Waldorf Winter Circle 2021

More winter fun

For more winter fun, make some snow out of ivory soap! It’s easy, fun, and inexpensive.

Happy winter! There’s nothing like sharing any season with your little ones to help you remember the magic. I still find that the falling snow fills me with wonder, even if driving in it doesn’t.

And if you need some inspiration or practical ideas to help your little ones get ready to go outside, check out my YouTube video on this very subject!

Thank you so much for stopping by. I’d love to hear how this circle went (or if you have any questions or comments).

Until we meet again, I wish you and yours joy, warmth, and health.

xoxo

« Previous Page

Understanding the fascinating world of kid’s drawings

Kid’s drawings–the video

An overview of children’s drawings

Further reading

Feel the love with this Waldorf Valentine’s day circle

February–the warmest month of all?

A Valentine’s day birthday party–or learn from my mistakes!

The Valentine’s day circle

You can get the words here:

Children love to draw– do it the Waldorf way!

The video–how to draw with your kiddos