Drawing is a crucial activity during kindergarten years. It is a way for a child to express their understanding of the world around them. Drawing allows children to make meaning and freely express their ideas, thoughts and feelings. Children usually have a natural urge to draw and here at JB, we ensure our learning environments support this.
Across our kindergarten years, our teachers and teaching assistants create nurturing environments which spark children’s interests. Learning environments are literacy-rich and opportunities for children to engage in drawing are planned and supported through meaningful interactions while children play. Our teachers have a good grasp of child development in mark-making and drawing. They create highly enabling environments which are tuned into children’s interests. Our teachers value creativity, provide a range of resources and tools, and allow children the freedom to draw from their imagination.
As children enter our Preschool, their drawings may not yet be entirely recognisable but they do have meaning and represent something. As children learn and develop, patterns emerge along with the use of shapes to form images. The drawing of a person or a self-portrait begins to have more details.
As children move into Reception and Year 1, they begin to draw animals and things from their interests. Drawing may even include letters to imitate writing and other details which demonstrate increasing levels of cognition.
Supporting children’s drawing allows them to develop in a number of ways. Physically they develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It is the foundation for pre-writing skills. It allows children to express themselves creatively. Most importantly, it supports a child in developing their understanding of concepts and provides their teacher with valuable insight into the level of cognition.
Since the reopening of kindergarten years, it has been amazing to observe how our incredible learning environments and staff support our children’s drawing skills. Here are some examples of the creativity and individuality shown by our students.
