Coloring

This last week's project was to experiment coloring on different kinds of paper. First we took out the crayons and the markers. Then I gave the girls each a coffee filter, a paper napkin, a piece of newspaper, and a paper plate, and I let them have at it. Rebecca immediately noticed how difficult it is to color on a paper napkin as she had to hold it against the table with her arm to keep it steady enough to color on. Elliot seemed to enjoy using markers on the paper napkin, which resulted in textured colorings. Come to think of it she liked using markers on every surface instead of crayons as I think there is something about having to pop the lid on and off of the marker during the coloring process that makes markers much more interesting than crayons. The experiment with different paper surfaces gave Rebecca the idea to try coloring on the non-sticky side of scotch tape as well, which she found made her strokes much more fluid-looking, though less brilliant.

There is definitely a huge difference between a three-year-old's colorings and a one-year-old's colorings. Rebecca uses very controlled, deliberate lines (unless she is in a hurry), and Elliot's marks are always the same half-rainbow curve that she makes back and forth, back and forth, and which she repeats several times before switching to another color. While we have plenty of coloring books for the girls to decorate, I try to offer them plain paper more often than coloring pages as I understand it is better for children to experiment on their own when they are learning to draw. I've even heard that it isn't a good idea to demonstrate how to draw as it will give children the false assumption that there is one correct way to draw and will make their own scribblings seem inferior. I will often put a few scribbles on the page to get them started and then encourage them to fill the page with color in their own way. When it comes to drawing actual objects, the goal should be to encourage children to draw things the way they see them, not to show them what they should be seeing.