Drawing for Children: Do we teach them or do they learn it on their own

 Believe or not but, both of these drawings were completed by children within a year or two of each other in age. The difference: The instruction that the children received.

Drawing for kids can be very controversial in certain circles. If you are not an educator than you may not even know that not everyone believes you should actually teach children to draw.

I graduated from a very progressive school of education that follows the educational theories of Viktor Lowenfeld  author of Creative and Mental Growth.    He strongly believes that children go through certain stages of development in art and should be allowed to progress through them without adult intervention.He strongly believes that children should only be involved in symbolic drawing which is what the figure on the above left is all about.

Since this was my training  I thought this was the holy grail, until I started reading some other  books about drawing for children that totally changed my way of thinking.

The first one  is the very well known, cutting edge The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. In Betty Edwards method she teaches people to see things from the right side of brain, teaching them to shut down the left while drawing.

Her method has been extremely successful with adults so its not that applicable to young children. She actually believes that children can’t really be taught drawing well until about age 10. So her methods do fit in pretty well with Lowenfelds. Basically let the kids draw as they please until age 10 and then teach them HOW to draw.

The second  book I’ve been reading is Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks, who teaches  The Monart Method. In her book Mona claims that she can teach children as young as 3 or 4 to draw realistically.

She feels that the same way children need instruction to learn how to  read  properly, they will also not learn to draw without instruction. She does address the issue  of children being allowed to draw without instruction and claims that children need both types of drawing. She does not deny that there is a place for what Lowenfeld calls symbolic drawing. The image of the bird on the above right was of a young child that was in a class that I gave using Mona Brooks techniques.

Mona Brooks  bases her method on children learning to see the world through 5 basic elements of shape.

What  is very interesting to me in her book is how she debunks many myths many of us have had for so long about drawing. Below are 8 of those myths that have been so widely accepted.

8 myths about drawing with children

1. The ability to draw is only inherited: Even though there are definitely those that are born with artistic skills that help them be natural drawers, there are many drawing skills that  can be learned.
2. There is a definite right and wrong way to draw:  Just take a look at Picasso, Rembrandt and Grandma Moses if you think that.
3. Drawing is for pleasure…it teaches the kids nothing: This is probably one of the reasons so many schools have cut the arts so drastically. It is vital to show administrators how art provides  thinking and problem solving  skills that can be so helpful for other areas of learning.
4. Art should be given to those that are talented artistically and may plan to use art for their career:  Art is vital for all kids to gain the many benefits and skills it provides.
5. Children should only learn drawing techniques through trial and error: If you can’t learn how to play the piano that way, then why should it be that way with art. If we teach children the general concepts of shape and leave the detail to them they will have guidance that will last a lifetime.
6. Abstracts artists are not real artists: Many of the most successful  artists were men like Picasso and Matisse who were in fact highly proficient realists. Abstract art is just a different type of art.
7. Real artists draw from only imagination: I always believed this was the case.That  artists  think about what they want to draw-and “voila” they just draw. Instead I now know that artists do  research before drawing and have pictures and often real life models of the object they want to draw ,before they even begin to put pen to paper. Imagination comes along with the pictures and the models/
8. Real artists always love what they produce: Read a biography of Van Gogh or many other artists to  see what angst they went through with their artwork. They don’t see their works as failures, but as steps in progress

So even though I  believes greatly in proper child developmental theories of  education and art, one can’t argue with the evidence and I realized that there is definite benefit to children getting specific instruction in drawing from  these methods. There is however, place for both types of drawing and children should be allowed to draw both ways. After  trying out the  method with a group of early elementary age children I saw how  there is certainly place for both kinds of drawing with children.

Since I did go through the book and teach the method I can give you some drawing ideas for kids that you can use without going through the whole book in a systematic fashion.

If you want to try some step by step drawing for children then  check out the post that is linked to in step by step drawing as it will take you through the first few lessons that you can do with children culled from Mona Brooks book.

As you go through these books and these lessons, you yourself may get inspired to learn to draw along with your children or students. It is amazing how many frustrated adult artists there are out there who wish they could learn to draw. And maybe now you can.

If you you want to get some of these ideas in a more formatted, organized and systematic ways along with other great art for kids, then you may want to check out my 2 ebooks for the price of one that I talk about here.

Related posts:

1. Beginning with Negative Space: Drawing with Children
2. Drawing ideas for kids: Drawing projects that are simple,easy, abstract drawing activites that help boost creativity
3. There is a step by drawing for kids method that is easy and simple for children to follow
4. Drawing Parrots or Toucans
5. Teach kids to see shapes with paint and pencil:Painting lessons