One of my favorite parts about being a grandma is watching my grand children develop. I have always been fascinated by child development specifically the evolution of language and the evolution of children’s mark making and drawing. It is truly amazing to watch them go from those first little “da da da” syllables and back and forth scribbles to the long complex story telling and stick figure drawings of a four year old. No matter how many times I observe it I am in awe and amazed.
The other day the NH four year old was visiting and she had the markers and was drawing. So I took out my pad and made a mark. “What are you drawing grandma?”
“I don’t know. What do you think I should draw”
The answer rather predictably if you know four year olds right now was, “An Ellicorn” For those not in the four year old universe Ellicorn’s are unicorns with wings and they are all the rage. I have been asked by her cousin to draw multiple Ellicorns in the past few months.
Now I want to go on record and say I HATE drawing horses and I HATE drawing Unicorns and Ellicorns and Pegasuses. But I pulled up an Ellicorn on my phone and did my best to copy it incorporating the mark I had made. Then I handed it to her and told her to finish it. Thankfully unlike her cousin who is also four she is much more willing to take a leap of imagination and did not have a fit that the Ellicorn I drew was not perfect. She happily accepted it and went on to create an elaborate drawing.
The following day when she sat down with the markers she made a mark and she looked at me and said, “Hmmm…what should I draw with this mark?” Just as I had said to her the day before. I told her to use her imagination and she went on to create a drawing of mermaids hunting for treasure in the ocean that was just magical.
Now one thing I love is how all three of the older grand girls love to draw but their drawing style is so unique to who they are as people. Roen has a combination of intense observation and emotion in her drawings. It is clear he is a deeply feeling kid. Mae’s drawings are very grounded in reality and observation. Mae would never accept an Ellicorn drawing that was not accurate on some level. There is a concreteness to her drawings that matches her strong sturdy personality. And Nikko’s drawings are fantastical and intricate and clearly very much emerging from her head. I want each of them to hold on to those traits. Already I see how the peer pressure and outside world is infiltrating Roen’s work. I suppose that is inevitable. it was great that her kindergarten curriculum incorporated tons of drawing.
