Scribbling is an important part of a child’s developmental process. It indicates their progress in terms of coordination and ability to handle simple tasks. Children see scribbling as an engagement with paper where they merely move their hand with the pen or writing material. It is an important stage where the child expresses no creativity and imagination. Parents and teachers are not meant to interfere with scribbling, and it takes time for children to understand the relationship between their hand movements and the presentation appearing on the paper. Scribbling eventually becomes repetitive, and children develop a sense of awe from the experience. Introducing color into the scribbling process can only disrupt the child from engagement and should only be introduced when children start naming their scribbling. Scribbling can determine emotional, intellectual, social, perpetual, creative and physical growth (Lowenfeld Ch.5, n.d.).
Scribbling is a process that children go through, and it determines their ability to carry out some tasks and understand art. It is the first interaction they establish with art and outlines their journey towards creativity. However, scribbling is not a reflection of creativity and imagination. Many children engage in scribbling for mere playing and enjoy seeing the lines and figures forming on the paper. As such, parents and teachers cannot train children about scribbling and the right way to do it. It is a process that takes time and evolves as the child takes further developmental milestones. It is worth noting that parents are responsible for presenting children with scribbling tools as they advance from one stage to the next and become more involved in scribbling. A parent can understand their developmental milestone and ability to take on more tasks by examining a child’s scribbling.
The Achievement of a Form Concept
No one schema is similar to the other when it comes to children. Children aged 7 to 9 can achieve human schema, where they manage to present the imagination in a physical form. The human schema allows them to demonstrate, through art, their understanding of human beings and their emotions. Furthermore, children understand space at this age and present their art more realistically. On the other hand, children experience a deviation from the schema where they can exaggerate important parts, show neglect and omission and change some parts with emotional significance. In their eyes, such a representation communicates the nature of what they imagined and emphasizes the areas they find important. A child’s schema revolves around understanding human features and representing them accurately according to their understanding. As such, they draw parts they find important and ignore the rest. Therefore, they understand space and the baseline and are quick to illustrate the ground, sky, and distance between them. Using a baseline outlines their understanding of the description of things and terrain and presents their imagination in a way they want to be understood. From a child’s schema, one can understand their intellectual, emotional, social and physical growth (Lowenfeld Ch.3, n.d.).
Human schema allows a child to present their art according to their understanding of the environment and others. Through the art, one can understand the communication that a child intends to relay. Schema gets better with more experience and is a part that a child must explore without the teacher’s and parents’ guidance and interference. It represents their understanding of the world around them and works as a way to communicate how they see things and imagine life to be. Therefore, the representation may not be accurate, but it defines their perception and what they find necessary to include in their art. Guiding children during such times only makes them present what the teacher and the adults want and see and not what the child wants.
The Frist Visual Symbols
Rodney presented a drawing of what he described as a racing car to his teacher and explained the progress of the care. However, the painting did not depict the elaborate explanation he offered and looking at it alone would not have made sense. Rodney’s story points to how children struggle with presenting the idea they envisioned, making it difficult to understand their communication. The struggle comes from the nature of children when it comes to drawing and how they start with one idea and end up with a completely different one. To understand children’s art, one must consider their stage of sensory logic, whereby their ideas are activated by the things they interact with and the way they see life. The pre-representational stage that children go through can start at any time and become broader as they continue exploring. For better development, the teachers must allow children to explore independently and create their own subject matter (Burton, 1980).
It takes time and practice for children to master the ability to transfer their imagination into reality. Their perception of art differs from what others can interpret and seems simplistic and undefined before they elaborate on their words. Furthermore, the depiction made by children may not reflect what is in their minds. As such, a teacher should not invalidate the different forms of presentations because they do not make sense to them. It is important to note that children present the things they see in their lives, which makes their art hold a different meaning to the individual children. Hence, a teacher dealing with five-year-olds must accept that the first visual symbol may not make sense and represent anything meaningful unless explained by the children.
References
Burton, J. M. (1980, October). Developing Minds: The First Visual Symbols [PDF]. Scholars Art.
Lowenfeld Ch.3. (n.d.). The First Stages of Self Expression: Scribbling Stages (2 to 4 years) [PDF].
Lowenfeld Ch.5. (n.d.). The Achievement of a Form Concept: Schematic Stages (7 to 9 years) [PDF].
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