How old are DCs when they start "drawing"?

[ThePequod]

That's it really - just wondering at what age I ought to start providing paper and crayons. DD recently turned one.

Also, are crayons the best thing to start with? Or felt tips or similar?

DS found crayons quite tricky, you need to press on them quite hard to make a decent mark. Crayola do some good completely washable chunky felt tips.

Painting is also good. Put lots of newspaper and some paper down on the floor as it will get splodges everywhere. Try handprints, finger painting etc as well as brushes.

They don't actually draw for ages, but they do like scribbling and making a mess.

Melissa and Doug fingerpaints are nice, slightly opaque and not too messy.

It's all about exploration at this age so let her feel paint, squish it, smear it...

Do you have any messy play sessions near you at your local sure start centres?

Mine make marks with pencils and crayons. They're 13 and 30 mo. They have been doing so for a while; I think mark making equipment is always available at nursery.
At home the eldest draws and attempts to 'colour' in his colouring in book, we give him pencils and biros, although only with our full supervision.
I think in general they start to enjoy using pencils etc from about 8 months.

water and a big brush to 'paint' on pavement or large lining paper
megasketcher
aquadoodle

The problem with some 1 year olds is that they will put paint/crayons in their mouths, it's not really toxic but a mess to clean up. Anything with water is great, and all the children I look after (I'm a childminder) love the aquadoodle and the megasketcher to start markmaking. Some children don't like fingerpaint, they don't like to get their hands sticky and dirty but some do. I like to buy rolls of basic lining paper from DIY shops and spread it out on the floor (inside or outside) and get the children's feet wet and they make water marks, or with a brush. Or with paint.

There's no age specific some children start having an interest in markmaking at 9 months old others at 18 months.

Another thing is to do it with food, for example make hand print with juice from beetroot, or just put a little beetroot juice in cooked spaghetti / pasta shapes and let the child play around with it on a paper (in high chair, it does work well). It makes lovely marks on the paper and it doens't matter if they eat it.

I'd do with washable felt pens DS sits at the table in his high chair with the tray off and draws. He used to break the crayons pressing to hard at the wrong angle to the point they were in a million tiny unusable bits. I've not been brave enough to try paint yet!

I absolutely cannot recommend 'stabilo woody' pencils highly enough. Have a look on Amazon. Yes they are expensive, but I bought a set for dd1 and we are now on dd3 and they are still going strong. They are chunky and the colours come out strong. They are easy for little hands and they are water soluble so wash or if clothes and you can paint with them. Love them.
And now is the right time to start with Mark making. Just playing with colours!

Thanks, everyone, for all the ideas - I might get some felt tip pens and lining paper for home, and see how DD likes messy play at the children's centre before I brave finger painting etc indoors...

We have crayola first felt tips. They have a stubby end and are totally washable. We probably got them at about 16 months and he LOVED it!

Bit sneaky but we ended up getting ours when he was poorly and bored at home. Utter life saver!!

We got DD a magnadoodle - no chance of mess, and she can't eat it! (19m and still eats crayons).