H>DA 278; 3 CFIBWJPS
Primitive Art
Those doodles and scribbles may
not look like much, but your
toddler’s early drawings are
a window onto his growth
and development.
If you’ve got little kids, you’ve got little-kid artwork: reams
of paper marked with dots and doodles, squiggles and
scribbles. “Just as the first smile, first steps, and first words
are milestones, so are your children’s first scribbles,” says
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D., coauthor of Celebrate the Scribble:
Appreciating Children’s Art. “Doodles can be symbols, and
they’re the first step toward writing and reading.” Using her book
as a guide, we’ve gathered drawings from kids, ages 9 months to
36 months, to chart how a child’s creativity grows from scrawls
on paper to actual drawings of stuff we can recognize.
( C> <>=C7B) >= H>DA <0A:
It may start with food. One minute she’s picking up Cheerios
and the next she’s smushing mashed sweet potatoes all over
the high chair. Congratulations! Your child has swiped her way
to an accidental artistic creation. “At this point, it’s all about
feel and texture—babies like sliding their fingers through soft
food,” says Dr. Hirsh-Pasek.
“I Did That?”: Your baby is learning that her hands can do
different things—reach, grab, bang—and every so often, by
accident, she might make her first dots or dashes. She’ll be sur-
