by Valando Demetriou
What Your Child's Drawing Means
Five stages, ages 2 to 6, and what to say at each one.
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What Your Child's Drawing Means
Five stages, ages 2 to 6, and what to say at each one.
- Children move through the drawing stages in order, at their own speed.
- Say "Tell me about it", not "What is it?"
- Big eyes, tiny bodies and floating objects are all normal.
- A drawing tells you where your child is right now.
From Valando
Now you know the stage. Here's how to help it grow.
The Kitchen Table Method shows you what to say and do at every stage, without ever asking them to copy.
Start here
Every scribble is a stage
Five stages, ages 2 to 6. Ages are a guide, never a deadline. Children move through these in order at their own speed, and a child can sit in one stage for a year and then move two in a month.
What it looks like
What this looks like
The chart
The five stages of drawing
Controlled scribbling
- Big circular loops that fill the whole page
- The same mark repeated with obvious enjoyment
- Holding the paper steady with the other hand
"You went round and round and round. Look how much of the page you covered."
Named scribbling
- The name arrives after the drawing, not before
- The same scribble is Nanna, then a dog, then a car
- First closed shapes, and long stories over the page
"You gave it a name. Tell me about Nanna."
Tadpole people
- A head with legs and no body in between
- Enormous eyes, arms out of the head or missing
- Fingers drawn as long rays, often more than five
"You have given them such big eyes. What are they looking at?"
The floating world
- Real objects, scattered, nothing sitting on anything
- The most important person drawn biggest
- Colour chosen for feeling, not realism
"You have drawn Dad the biggest one here."
The first ground line
- A line along the bottom that everything stands on
- Sky as a strip at the top, not filling down
- The same house or figure repeated across drawings
"Everything is standing on the grass now. That was not there last year."
Worth learning by heart
Seven swaps for what you say
The teacher's why
Where these stages come from
Researchers who study children's art, including Viktor Lowenfeld and Rhoda Kellogg, described how drawing develops in a predictable order, from scribbles through to recognisable people and places.
These stages are a guide, not a test. Every child moves at their own speed. What matters is that you notice, celebrate and keep supplying paper.
Tips by age
How to respond at each age
Age 2 to 3
- Big paper, fat crayons
- Join in the scribbling
- Don't ask what it is
Age 3 to 4
- Listen to the story they tell
- Write their words on the page
- Ask about the colours
Age 5 to 6
- Notice the ground line
- Ask about details
- Draw together
Common mistakes
Five things that backfire
Stick it on the fridge
Look for the stage, say the words that go with it, and enjoy where they are right now.
From Valando
Now you know the stage. Here's how to help it grow.
The Kitchen Table Method shows you what to say and do at every stage, without ever asking them to copy.
Sources and further reading
Where this comes from
- Creative and Mental Growth (first published 1947) Viktor Lowenfeld, book
- Analyzing Children's Art (1969) Rhoda Kellogg, book
Take the next step
Ready for the whole thing?
This guide gives you the ideas. The courses teach you how to run them, step by step, so it works on a real Tuesday.
The Kitchen Table Method
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- A ready-to-go activity and printable card for every session
- The exact words to say when it gets hard
The Method
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- Calm, confident art with three to six year olds
- Set-up, materials and the words to use, taught step by step
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