Susan Striker

Using Art to Develop Literacy

Are you stifling your children's creativity? Take this one minute test and find out:

--Do you always say "very pretty" when your child shows you his or her latest drawing?
--Do you always "find" pictures of things you recognize in scribbles?
--Do you give specific directions about how to use art materials correctly?
--Have you ever drawn or painted on your child's art work?
--Have you taught your child how to draw pictures of certain things?
--Have you been made angry by finding art on inappropriate surfaces, such as walls, arms, table tops?
--Have you entertained your child by drawing for him or her?

Children scribble, beginning at about age one, and continue to do so for five years before they move on to creating recognizable objects. Nevertheless, adults often don't give scribbling the validation it deserves because it is "merely scribbling." In fact, scribbles consist of all of the lines and shapes that make up every known alphabet. The marks that children make from age one thru age five become the very foundation upon which they can later build every letter of every alphabet as well as draw pictures.

Children scribble instinctively, much as they crawl, stand up and make sounds instinctively. They go through very predictable stages of development making certain marks and arranging them in space in very specific ways. For some reason many of us tend to allow children to progress naturally through the kicking-crawling-walking stages of physical development and then interfere with literacy development by negating the value of scribbling. Without several years of free scribbling, children will almost certainly have trouble learning to decode, read and write.

Many people think of young children's drawings as "charming"--and they are. But, they are so much more. Early scribbling is profoundly important. In my recent book Young at Art, (Henry Holt, 2001) I try to demonstrate that early art is not merely "charming" and it certainly isn't meaningless. Early art is the very foundation upon which a child may build a lifetime of literacy. Equally important is for parents to recognize that art begins with scribbles, not "charming", recognizable figures. As children progress through the early stages of scribbling development it is important that they do so with support and appreciation from the significant adults in their lives.

Facing a blank piece of paper and doing something on it is an early exercise in critical thinking and problem solving. "What do I want to do?" "How do I do it?" "How do I get from here to there?" "What would happen if I did it this way?" " Or that?" These are all examples of how real learning takes place. Doing a "pretty" picture to please Mommy or repeating a drawing formula to elicit a positive response from Daddy are all examples of how well-meaning parents, grandparents and early childhood teachers prevent development from moving forward. Fortunately, our instincts are so strong that young children will continue to scribble even if faced with punishment, lack of appropriate materials, and inadequate appreciation.

If you will really look at your baby's scribbles you will see, for example, straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, and zig zag lines. Instead of saying "What is that?" or "Very pretty!" all you have to do is say, "Wow!, you made a curved line next to a straight line." Or, see a short line next to a long line." It is easy to give your child both vocabulary to describe art as well as the acceptance and approval that will encourage the child to continue to explore and create. Once you teach a child how to draw something, exploration ends. If you find certain things very pretty, your child will continue to make those things-to please you-stifling exploration and squelching learning. Open your mind to the possibilities of using art materials as a means to encourage your child to stay curious and become a life long learner.

Copyright © 2003 Susan Striker. All rights reserved worldwide.

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About The Author ...
Susan Striker is an experienced art teacher and author who has published 21 books on art and creativity. To learn more about her work or to contact her log on to www.susanstriker.com.