Scribbling and freehand drawing are necessary steps towards well-formed handwriting and advanced thinking skills.
Toddlers scribble by instinct
The next time you come across another coffee table defaced by your toddler, consider this: Toddlers have a compulsive urge to leave their mark on tables and walls in the form of wiggles and dots! As their motor skills are still weak, the doodling of children under two stem from a need to release energy, with only limited control over their "artwork".
By age three, doodling becomes more purposeful, with repeated lines or circles. With practice and a growing ability to focus longer, the coordination between visual and motor skills improves. At this stage, he is still unaware of the art creation process. His work may look haphazard and formless, but this is actually the beginning of an in-built desire to draw.
Preschoolers draw their thoughts
Between the ages three to five, the fingers and wrist improve in muscular strength. There is also better hand-eye coordination - all of which set the stage for the next step - dealing with a specific subject matter. This is an important milestone in your child's mental development - the ability to make a connection between his thoughts and his doodling.
Drawings become a means of communication, a language by itself. He begins to be interested in forms and design. Gradually, his drawings change from the abstract to the symbolic. Whatever he experiences and visually observes are now linked and expressed symbolically (though still in dots and lines). He is able to communicate his object to you. Often, he may talk as he draws, to compensate for his inadequacy in art, and also a means to relate his internal thoughts and emotions to the external environment.
On Friday, our preschoolers sat down to draw; we asked them what they created.
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