How well can a five year old draw?

[LanisHouseLot]

My youngest has stood out from my others from a young age in terms of drawing, and now at just turned 5 I keep finding myself bowled over at how good their pictures are. Some other skills, possibly more important ones, are definitely lagging behind but the drawing skills seem to be racing ahead in spite of still clutching the pencil in a fist to draw with! I think covid plays a part, as there have been so many days sitting at home with not much to do, so out comes the paper and pencils.

It dawned on me that I don't really know how well most 5 year olds draw, and can only compare to my previous children at that age. Do I have rose-tinted mum-goggles on and they're actually pretty average? This picture was just handed to me - it appears to be a whale, a shark and a dolphin playing in a band, with 2 children (possibly dancing?).

If you know lots of 5 year olds, would this rank as pretty good or somewhere more in the middle? It doesn't matter to me either way, I'm just curious!

@Minipie No mention from teacher as they haven't started school yet (for complicated reasons) - will be in September though.

When my eldest was about 7 I remember thinking his art work and writing was great... then I went to parents evening and saw 20 other kids work on the wall and realised I hadn't a clue . His work was perfectly good, but it wasn't stand out by any means.

He is much older now so of course better at drawing than the little one, with another in between too, and I feel I've lost all perspective of what is struggling/average/great for each age-group. That goes for all subjects really - I nearly fell of my chair overhearing a 9 year old talking in Googleclassroom about modelling molecules with a chemistry kit during show and tell "here this is a water molecule I made" .

Very talented child .. those drawings are fantastic.
Definitely keep him practicing.
As you say it’s nice for each child to have their thing.

I would say that they are very good! I have an almost 5 year old who I would have considered good until I saw these

I’m assuming girl rather than boy, for some reason.

DS drew like that at about 7 (though he thought a drawing without a tractor on it was a waste of paper) and he was considered gifted.

They are lovely and amazing pictures! Very talented!!

DS6 is at stick figure with haunting void eyes and wry smiles phase 😂

I'm 39 and your DS's pictures are better than anything I can draw.

My DD is 5 and loves drawing, but we're still very much in "is that a horse or a person?" mode here

These are WONDERFUL and not just technically advanced but full of creativity and style. I've worked in childcare settings for decades OP and these are really unusual for his age. How lovely for you both.

@legalseagull that's fantastic for 3!

@fainasnowchild and @tulipvictory Love both of those - both have a definite individual style but are so different!

There is a definite talent there op! I teacher 5/6 year olds and in my class I had one child who would have been almost as good as yours - but your kid has such a wonderful imagination!!!

Definitely start keeping a portfolio as another pp suggested, it'll be lovely to look back on in years to come.

I think they’re very talented - and how lovely for them to have something they enjoy so much.

Wow, excellent! I would say they're on a par with my DD5, but I know she's a very talented artist.

They're really good, my 6 year old has started doing fleshed out bodies rather than stick men and more detailed eyes rather than a simple dot but still very basic.