Children and Art

Most of us as adults tend to look down on children’s drawings and colourings. We usually can’t make out what they had drawn and we find that they colour outside the boundary most of the time. In short, adults say that children’s art is messy. Well, I’m sure Rembrandt, Picasso, Michael Angelo and others like them must have started like that and went on to more refined art work.


Not all children end up being great artists. But their immature art work is an expression of their inner thoughts and feelings. Their artwork is not well defined simply because their thinking pattern is still immature and their motor development hasn’t allowed them to colour within the boundary. Art is one way children communicate their feelings to adults since they are limited in their vocabulary. Psychiatrists and psychologists when working with children who have deep emotional scars would use art as one way to relate to them.





So the next time your 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 year old come to you with their art, please don’t say, “What is this?” Rather, say, “Tell me about your drawing.” Then sit with him/her and give him/her your full attention.