...to think this is a really good drawing for a four year old!

[Probablyfinebutworried]

My friend's daughter is 4 and drew this picture while I was at their house. She explained it's a crocodile with some rocks, and she said that a lion walked across the field and then added some lion footprints at the bottom! AIBU to think this is way advanced for a 4 year old?! My son is 4 and is still drawing people as blobs with limbs coming out of them!

I would say it shows good imagination and engagement, but average drawing skills. It's lovely that she enjoys drawing, so definitely put it up and encourage her to do another one.

This. I was an early years teacher for 30 years and it looks like a 4 year old's drawing. Of course, there are also plenty of 4 year olds still drawing circles with arms and legs

Did she sit down and draw it all in one go? Bravo to the concentration that it takes to manage that in one go.
It looks just like her description -fab details too.

My son is just 4 and doesn't have the pen control to draw that but some of his friends would. Its not outside the realm of normal

Not especially, although there’s a big range at that age. That level of detail suggests that the child is of above average intelligence though (as opposed to being a gifted drawer).

Aww, it's very cute. I love all the spiky detail!

Yeah that looks like 4yr old drew it . It's good it's on paper so bonus points for that 😄.

Cute but it still looks like a 4 year old drew it. And there's nothing wrong with that

I’m a teacher and currently teaching reception/ Yr 1 in a special school and have a couple of youngsters who can draw this well. The picture is lovely and a lot better than many 4 year olds can draw but certainly not exceptional or unusual for a 4 year old with an interest in drawing and it wouldn’t stand out in a reception classroom.

MN is the wrong place to ask anything like this, all their kids were drawing like 12year olds at 2. And their writing was like an adults at 6. Oh and they all knew their times tables by 3.

My son’s 7, he can play chess and is a great reader but he’d struggle to draw that 😀. He has never ever drawn anything in his life unless forced to!

Out of interest, a question for any art teachers on here- when do the really talented artists emerge? I had a school friend whose elder brother was just amazing at drawing, he’d do cartoons and portraits of us when I went round to play - I guess I was about 8 and he was maybe 11? He drew better than any adult I knew, went to a prestigious art school and now makes a living as an artist. Do kids like that just leapfrog the kid drawing stage and go straight to amazing art? How does it work?

Haha this made me laugh!

You say that. My 3.5 year old doesn’t even pretend he draws. Even he tells me that his drawings are ‘just scribbles’.

And reluctant scribbles at that.

I’m not really sure what the OP was hoping for. That picture is a good drawing for a 4 year old, but it’s not remarkable. Lots of 4 year olds draw really well. Others not so much.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s ’way advanced’ or whatever though. The child has done a drawing and is pleased with it. Thats all that really matters. She’s 4.

Does the child’s mum know you’ve decided to post about her DD on MN?

None of mine could draw this well at four. Mine were drawing blob people and scribbles. I'm very impressed!

It's a lovely drawing, carefully done, but I'd definitely have guessed in the range 4 to 6. At that age it doesn't really matter how good it is in some ways though, more that they're enjoying doing it and developing skills such as pencil holding, expressive drawing, and good character writing.

My daughter just turned 4 and draws like this. Normal I'd say.

Thanks all, so it's good but fairly normal for a 4 year old (but it sounds like my son's blobmen are also normal, which is a relief! 😄)

It does look like a 4-5 year old drew it, but I'm more impressed with what's she's drawn. At 4 you get a lot of houses, rainbows, people and cars. So the rocks and paw prints are a nice touch! It's a good drawing.

Is this a joke? It looks exactly like a drawing by a four year old. An average drawing.

Yup! I said i thought it was advanced and she didn't so we're doing a straw poll (she doesnt use mumsnet). Nothing to read into, it's just a lighthearted Sunday night post (illuminating my own child's lack of artistic ability 😆)

I currently teach early years and I would say that’s the top end of average.
It’s lovely with lots of detail.

I think this is what impressed me tbh, all the detail like the claws, and the lion prints and the fact that she did it all from imagination, not from a picture.

It has:

• A good level of detail
• A range of shapes

But:

• Objects are floating in space
• No baseline or skyline - no sense of orientation between the standing crocodile and the footprints

So within the normal range. Decent pen control and imagination/visualisation, but not extraordinary drawing skills.

Drawing does just click earlier with some children. You will get people claiming its a sign of intelligence, its not particularly, both my DC are excellent at reading/maths but struggle badly to draw anything representative. 7 yo is particularly bad for age - can't get size or relative position of anything remotely right.

My 4 and a half year old absolutely could not draw this picture! Very little that they draw is recognisable as anything at all.

It's a good, nice drawing for a 4 yo, especially one with a lot of practice/interest in drawing.

I am quite impressed with her imagination,attention to detail and willingness to add to it as the "story" evolved. That's pretty cool.