Teaching a 3 years old child to paint better

[sophiajannie]

Hi everyone!

I have 2 daughters. The older one is three years old, and she is quite talented at drawing. Not just my parental bias; a child psychologist confirmed that she draws at a level of a 5 years old. And most people with little kids are shocked to see her drawings.
Didn't come as a big surprise: both me and my wife were good at drawing (relative to our peers) at the pre-school age. But later we didn't do anything about it, so these days our drawing skills are mediocre. I would love to provide our daughter support to do better than us. The problem is, having no formal artistic education myself, I don't know where to start, other than giving her the pencils and paper.
I remembered how much I enjoyed reading the artistic debates on the Wesnoth forum, and that I had big respect for the game art, so this felt like the natural place to ask:
As a parent, how can I best support my daughter (currently 3 years old) to fully develop her drawing skills? What resources or techniques would you recommend for a pre-school child? Any books or videos? What to focus on? In which order to teach the individual skills? etc.
I will provide some examples of her drawing in the following comment soon.

Is art not personal creativity? Why stifle her to your idea of good art?

Urgh no. One of those.
Just leave her to be creative and then SHE can choose as and when to be artistic. You make it a class or a chore you’ll kill her creativity.

May I ask how and why your 3 year olds drawings were accessed by a child psychologist? It’s very uncommon to get one’s 3 year olds music, artwork or creations assessed by a psychologist. Unless she is under treatment by said psychologist? In which case perhaps just letting her develop as is is best.

she’s just 3. Currently drawing is teaching her so much - yes art sure, but also developing her motor skills, her pincer grip, pencil control - all of which will be useful to develop writing skills.

Maybe just familiarise yourself with the EYFS framework and understand the holistic role of expression, physical motor development and wider learning within the EYFS framework and enable lots of messy play, access to diverse crafting materials and that’s it? Let her grow into reception year and then assess whether a formal art based art club or drawing instruction is useful.

She's three Just let her get on with it and enjoy herself!

She won't enjoy it any more if you put so much pressure on her. Let her be.

Just make it accessible and encourage her to be creative. She's only tiny - if she possesses a genuine talent and, crucially, a passion for art then it will become apparent as she gets older.

DD has loved drawing from a young age and would probably be assessed as being beyond her years at it.

I nurture her interest in art by making sure she has easy access to paper, card and decent quality colouring pencils, scissors, glue, tissue paper etc.

That's it. I was crap at drawing as a child but she has inherited the genes of an architect on the other side so maybe that's partly responsible.

If she's as good as a five year old she will be able to follow the 'art hub for kids' videos on YouTubekids.

We use them in EYFS at out school. They do the same tutorial every day for a week in a book.

The only thing I would do is correct pen hold if possible and explain that waiting for colours to dry before smearing every colour simultaneously would maybe be useful if she doesn't want everything to look like mud. But good luck getting a 3yo to watch paint dry.

Dd's talented. At that age she just had materials available to do what she liked. It's always been her comfort activity.

I'd book her an appointment with the kid shrink. Sounds like she'll need it.

Leave her be, she's 3.

Stop living through your child and let her be a three year old.

She's a person, not a vessel for your broken dreams.

Please don’t stifle your dd’s creativity by confining her to techniques and rules. I know that’s the last thing you want to do, but I fear that is what will happen if you try to channel it at an early age. The joy of children’s art lies in its spontaneity! She will find her own way. All she needs are the materials and your encouragement to express herself. Plenty of time for drawing classes if she wants to, when she is older.

I would do what you’re doing and provide the paper, pencils as paint.

Unlimited access to arts and crafts. Unlimited freedom to express and NO criticism and NO confirming to a pattern. Plenty of physicality. Plenty of stimuli.

Express express express!

Then at the age of 7/8 see how her gross muscle development and fine motor skills have developed and see what she likes.

How would a psychologist know about drawing levels?

My 12 year old is really creative and 'arty'. She can't bare being told what to do. The idea of paint parties or painting sets etc fill her with horror. She says how is it creative if you are told what to do.

Just leave your daughter be for now. As she gets older make opportunities where she can gain skills - attending workshops etc at your local gallery.

For now, she's 3 so just say we'll done, I love it, that's great.

Give her the tools, opportunities and freedom to express herself

Provide her with good quality materials, and let her get on with it. I think lack of, or poor quality materials are the main barrier when children are developing their art skills.

When she is older perhaps she might enjoy art workshops and so on.

I would just make sure that she has access to a whole range of different media such as acrylics, poster paints, felt tips, pencil crayons, watercolour pencils and brushes of varied thicknesses. Also, good quality art paper rather than the thin art pads. Then put her in a good art apron with sleeves and let her create.

Firstly, skill levels at a preschool level aren’t necessarily a great indication of later talent - children pick up skills at different speeds. Being at the level of a 5yo aged 3 doesn’t mean she necessarily has the capacity to be a talented artist long term.

Secondly it is FAR too young to focus on acquiring particular skills. Just let her enjoy being creative!

She's 3! Leave her to do her own thing.

Mean comments. Art is one of those skills, like music that can be lost or undeveloped.
As pp have said ensure she’s got materials, not just paper and paints but space to draw and be encouraging. Talk about what she’s doing.

Let her enjoy her art without instructions stifling her creativity.
She can learn more formal techniques later.
For now, let her explore by creating what she wants.
My Dd has pens, pencils, paints and paper from Ikea and Ryman mostly.