Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Color Around the Lines

Color Around the Lines


If you are tired of coloring books dictating what your child draws, have them try coloring around the lines instead of in the lines. Prepare several sheets of paper with pre-drawn shapes and patterns of different lines. Give your child a selection of markers, colored pencils, and crayons and watch what they do. Many children will mimmic the lines they see. Some will color in the shapes similar to a traditional coloring book. They may add to the designs with new lines and shapes of their own! The point is, there is not one right way for them to use the coloring sheets. The images are not concrete and leave enough to the imagination for them to experiment. Keep a dialogue going with your child while he/she works. Talk to them about the kind of lines they are creating. "I see you've made lot's of dots." "Wow, look how fast you're drawing!" "That's a big oval!"


*Many of the children I work with enjoy combining sounds with their mark making. dot-dot-dot or swirling sounds while drawing curly-q's are a great place to start.


Materials:
Paper (8  x 10 or larger)
Water Soluble Markers
Jumbo crayons
Colored Pencils

What The Experts Say

"From the time she first discovers that a crayon can mark a sheet of paper, this kind of play will be important to your child. Through drawing and painting she will not only learn to manage the preliminaries to writing, she will also learn ... to express some of her views about the world and her own problems... as well as the pleasure which can come only through her own efforts ... She is exploring the material and its potential, so if you try to make her `draw Mommy' or `cut out a star' you will be interfering with her play. In the same way, coloring books, painting by number, and many craft kits can set such rigid limits around the child's activity that they may frustrate and bore her. Stick to open-ended activities until or unless she actually asks for something more structured."
--Penelope Leach, Your Growing Child, (Knopf 1994)