Toddler Art

By Rhiannonw

Fri, 04 Oct 2013
  • 1837 reads
8 comments
 

I like to use a crayon –
it makes a mark, and then
I take it round, and up and down, –
and push it back again.

I’ve got a lot of colours.
I like to try them all.
It makes a pretty pattern, – see
to stick up on the wall.

I’ve learnt to draw this picture:
I draw a line, then bring
it back to where I started off, –
a roundish, wobbly thing!

It’s something like my Mummy,
it’s something like a ball,
it’s something like a lorry’s wheel –
I like to draw them all.

This brown is like a tree trunk,
and if I rub the green
across the top, and squiggle round,
it’s like the trees I’ve seen.

And scribbling with my yellow
to make a sort-of ball,
looks something like the sun (“too bright    
– don’t look at it at all!”).

So many different colours
inside my box to use –
like cars, and flowers, carpets, grass
– so which one shall I choose?

I’ll try to draw my Mummy;
a circle, then her nose;
these spots for eyes, – and now her mouth –
down here, somewhere, it goes.

A pencil makes a different mark.
They say I’ve got to try
to hold it like they show me how –
I can’t, I don’t know why.

“Be careful with that pencil –
don’t hold it when you run!
and when you hold it well, you’ll learn
to write and draw like Mum.”

So soon I may draw letters,
nice pictures, numbers too,
and join-the-dots, and trace and paint
like bigger children do.

But still it’s fun to draw
the things I can do now;
and when I try I often find
I’ve drawn new things somehow!
 

Certificate U
Poem
Families
Children's

Comments

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Such fun, this is Rhiannon.  Sounds as if you really enjoyed writing it, because I certainly enjoyed reading it.  Every child loves to draw and paint...I still do, in fact, and I'm not much better than I was when I was five or six, but I still get a buzz out of doing it, and that's what it's all about, I guess.

A lovely poem;-)

Tina

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Yes, Tina, this was quite an old one I found, and needed just a tiny bit of tinkering. It arose from different times of encouraging and observing children with crayons at that age. I think I got on well with encouraging them in such a basic way, because I also hadn't advanced much beyond that, but took a pleasure in 'simple art!!' and nudging them on in it, and not to despise their early attempts!
In later years I would just say, 'I cant draw' until I realised that my biology drawing was basically still life copying, and so there was some ability there, though I couldn't do imaginative work and 'people' drawing!
Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Bee on

This is brilliant, Rhiannon. You've got just the right voice, and captured the wonder felt by a child when they turn out something that happens to look like something, and therefore, is that thing, yet they don't know how it happened. I'm always drawing and painting with children, and the little ones do tend to talk through their masterpiece whilst in the process of creation. 

Enjoyed this very much.

Bee

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Yes, Bee, and it's good to encourage them to see some of their scribbles are looking like something, isn't it, leads to nice conversations too.
I remember telling Mums collecting children from playgroup when I'd been helping, what interesting things their child had done before they 'added to it' and the whole became a grey splodge to take home!
Rhiannon

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

This is such a well mastered poem Rhiannon,  took me back to my own childhood and how my mum would spend hours drawing and colouring with me,  which was so much fun and I still enjoy drawing.  You also have some great rhythm and rhyme going on,  which only added to the enjoyment of reading it.  Thank you so much for sharing this beauty.  Jenny.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

So, I'm glad I did, Jenny. Glad you enjoyed, and it brought back memories. Thank you for letting me know, warm regards, Rhiannon

 

Submitted by jeand on

Hi Rhiannon

This is good fun to read, and brings back memories of children's art. Two things come to mind - one when our youngest daughter was 3 and we lived in New Zealand, we lived in a rented house and she chose to write (in felt tip pens) on the back of their pale yellow couch. I washed it, but it didn't come out very well, and shrank, so all in all, not a good look. Another time, the same child chose to paint on the outside of our house, and I shouted at her, and told her how naughty she was, and made her scrub it all off. That is an abiding memory for her - she obviously felt that she had done a terrible thing - and probably it was just me, tired and frustrated, shouting inappropriately.

Jean

Jean Day

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks again for reading, Jean. The incidents like you describe are so common, and I think the really good thing is that the children know that Mum does get tired, and if there is a good relation, they are aware that that can affect how we speak after such an incident, but they also know (deep down!) that we care enough to have to tell them off good and proper, and teach them care and asking what they can do with their pens etc! Rhiannon