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mushpea
19-11-2009, 07:43 PM
Hi i look after a nearly 4yrold , whenever we do any type of colouring activity wether it be a picture to colour in or a blank bit of paper she just scribbles on it , no attempt to colour it in nicley or to draw a 'proper' picture, I belive she does this because A) she hasnt got the patience to sit there and do a 'nice' picture and B) there is a 2yrold here who obviously scribbles on her pictures and gets praise for doing a ' nice' picture as the scribbles are quite age appropriate for her.
how do i encourage her to colour in the pictures and not just scribble with one colour over them and what should i be saying to her when she does scribble ie should i say oh thats not how we colour or wouldnt it be better if we colour in the picture with different colours or should i be a bit stricter and say we dont scrible but colour nicely?
I really want to sort out what to do as i have some lovley bookmarks and christmas cards for them to do which i want to be able to leave on the table for them to colour in without me constantly being there and for these to be gifts but i dont want her to just scribble on them.
I realise that at this age she wont have the perfect picture but surley i should expect more than scribbles from her?

Minstrel
19-11-2009, 07:49 PM
I have a 3yr old who does this.

I spent ages printing all the little 'making friends' printables and put them all on the table for the children to colour in. I was going to 'dress them', laminate and put them up on the wall but she just came along and scribble over the lot and said Done It!!!!!

I thanked her :thumbsup: but printed off some more so we could try again.

Will probably sit with her and colour and see if she notices how i do it

sarah707
19-11-2009, 07:52 PM
I think, to be honest, that you value what she has done!

Some children simply aren't artistic... maybe she could stick pressed flowers to her bookmark and you could laminate that?

Have you talked to parents / other settings about the work she produces there?

:D

FussyElmo
19-11-2009, 07:55 PM
My ds is 8 and still cant produce a nicely coloured in picture. Dont think he ever will!!!

mushpea
19-11-2009, 08:02 PM
my son is 9 and still wont sit and colour or draw a decent picture but the difference is he can't (special needs) and i think she can if she wanted to but as i said in first post its a case of she wont sit and do it and also she sees the 2yrold getting praised for it, I did wonder wether to say to her that we have some nice chrismas pictures to colour in today but you have to try and colour them nicely not just scrible on them as they are going to be special gifts but then im not sure that if by saying this i am saying that her scribbles arent nice and then she wont want to do it anyway.
I have to say also that she is a very stubbon and defiant child and one who is quite sneaky at times too so maybe its all part of her personality.
oh and its not that she has little attention span as she will sit for ages with things like puzzles, fuzzy felts, books etc.

Ripeberry
19-11-2009, 08:13 PM
Maybe she is a Jackson Pollock in the making and will not be constrained by lines and borders :D She's doing what she thinks looks nice, anyway I thought we were not allowed or supposed to give them pre-printed pictures and that they have to use blank pieces of paper....I think :huh:

louise
19-11-2009, 08:20 PM
How is her gross and fine motor skills? My ds has only just started to colour inside the lines when he concentrates. He will draw pics which have only just started in the last year to become recognisable. He has been diagnosed with Neurofibrosis type 1 which normally effects the fine and gross motor skills. I'm not saying she has this as its normaly passed down.So it might be worth just seeing how she is with other things. How about scissors? pencil grip?

mushpea
19-11-2009, 09:24 PM
How is her gross and fine motor skills? My ds has only just started to colour inside the lines when he concentrates. He will draw pics which have only just started in the last year to become recognisable. He has been diagnosed with Neurofibrosis type 1 which normally effects the fine and gross motor skills. I'm not saying she has this as its normaly passed down.So it might be worth just seeing how she is with other things. How about scissors? pencil grip?

hmmmm,, hadnt thought of it as being a fine motor skill thing which is weird cause my son has fine motor skills problems:blush: , Think i will try and speak to the nursery next week and see what she does there, she never brings out any pictures shes done and when i ask her she says they are still wet so she will bring them home later but i never see them , i have her 3 days a week, do i need permisin from mum to speak to nursery or do i just do it as its one proffesional to anohter?

madasahatter
19-11-2009, 09:47 PM
why don't you try some messy play drawing ideas-
1. squirt some baby lotion onto a tray and use fingers to spread it around and make patterns. Encourage her to make circles, spirals, waves, zig zags, the first letter of her name etc
2. cornflour goo- as above
3. lightly sprinkled flour/sand etc
These can all be used to encourage gross and fine movements that can be translated into drawing and writing skills

I think a lot of 4 yr olds still scribble so I wouldn't be too worried about it. The knack is to find a craft activity that matches her current techniques and skills.


I thought we were not allowed or supposed to give them pre-printed pictures and that they have to use blank pieces of paper

This is one of those silly stories that go round and get blown out of proportion. Theoretically if all you use is preprinted pictures you can stifle a child's creative desires. As always everything in moderation, a few colouring pages is not going to harm a child's development if they are offered as part of lots of other creative experiences. My older children like to colour preprinted pictures and the LO's like to copy them. Who cares if they scribble as long as they enjoying themselves, they are engrossed and they are proud of what they've done?

nannymcflea
19-11-2009, 10:06 PM
Maybe she is a Jackson Pollock in the making and will not be constrained by lines and borders :D She's doing what she thinks looks nice, anyway I thought we were not allowed or supposed to give them pre-printed pictures and that they have to use blank pieces of paper....I think :huh:


Yep,these are not beneficial apparently and to be perfectly honest,pretty boring to some?

I'd steer clear if she's not interested, do mark making some other way, paint with fingers, mark make in gloop, sand, mud, aquadraw,paintbrush and water, cut with scissors and a glue stick.

Have you tried drawing simple pics whilst sitting next to her? Or cutting out a pic from a magazine and saying "I'm going to try and draw this, what would you like to cut out and draw?"

As for getting strict, I don't think this will help, perhaps make her dislike of pens/paper worse.....I'd start by scribbling myself and say "thats my dog, do you like my dog?" to get her to see that "scribbles" can have meaning....which infact hers might already have but she hasn't told you.

The Juggler
19-11-2009, 10:59 PM
children who cover their picture can be doing lots of things. Sometimes they draw little pictures which are 'trains' etc then they draw all over them. Sometimes, they are making smoke or rain over their drawing, sometimes they just might like to cover things. Any scribbling is good as it improves their pen control and mark making, they need to learn to make back and fore, up and down and round and round movements for later writing skills.

It's reallly common for children to just like to cover whole sheets of paper with colour (as they often do when they paint). Give your mindee blank paper and let her do her own thing or give her different resources to be creative with, lots of different glues, scissors paper, cellotape - maybe mark makign is not their thing just yet.

Precision with colouring in doesn't support their creativity more their spatial skills. Give them some chalks and let them draw outside on the floor maybe. Don't worry, this is a skill children will pick up later on and enjoy at some point.

mushpea
20-11-2009, 06:54 AM
Thanks for all your replys, i will defintatly get some different stuff for mark making out for her, the paint and gloop thing sounds good for next week as we are doing shapes at the moment so will tie in quite well.
and i now realise that yes as long as shes havning fun if she scribbles then thats ok. I think i was just thinking of these cards we are going to make as they are pre printed pics on them and as i bought them i wanted them to spend a bit longer than 30 secs on them, I also have to watch it because she would quite hapily scribble on the whole lot and not let anyonesle do any so maybe i will spereate them so they have some each then it dosent mater cause it will only be hers shes scribbles on.

The Juggler
20-11-2009, 07:50 AM
Thanks for all your replys, i will defintatly get some different stuff for mark making out for her, the paint and gloop thing sounds good for next week as we are doing shapes at the moment so will tie in quite well.
and i now realise that yes as long as shes havning fun if she scribbles then thats ok. I think i was just thinking of these cards we are going to make as they are pre printed pics on them and as i bought them i wanted them to spend a bit longer than 30 secs on them, I also have to watch it because she would quite hapily scribble on the whole lot and not let anyonesle do any so maybe i will spereate them so they have some each then it dosent mater cause it will only be hers shes scribbles on.

sounds good. let her pick one, let her watch you write her name on it so she knows its hers and then leave a big pile of paper for her to scribble on once she's finished her one. She may ask for it back then. If she points at everyone else's ask if she'd like hers back.

ps, shapes and glue is my major/staple art resource. I use all the offcuts off other cutting out in different colours and wet and dry glue and the children just glue mosaics. It's great for awareness of shape and colour.:)

youarewhatyoueat
20-11-2009, 08:32 AM
I recommend a good puplication from the dcsf its free and called mark making matters. Go on www.teachernet.gov.uk/publications and order it for free.