Kid art

One of my favorite organized activities at home these days is coloring. It's the only thing I know of that will occupy both kids quietly for at least 20 minutes. I have a single spiral bound sketch pad that all the kids have been doodling in for the past three months and it's almost full now. The other day I went flipping through the pictures, and even though the artists aren't identified I can easily tell the difference between Sawyer and Arden's artwork. Sawyer has from a very young age been a heavy pressure guy. He tends to pick one color and stick with it. There will be five pages in a row scribbled with all magenta or all black. He draws thick, aggressive pictures. I sometimes wonder if this is a boy thing, or a lefty thing, or that he's more mechanically minded, or maybe it's a reflection of his personality. I would love to find a book on deciphering children's art.

I did find one book on the topic that looks really interesting but I haven't read it yet. It's called Celebrate the Scribble .




Arden is quite the opposite. She tries to use every color available, makes light swirling lines, holds her pens almost perfectly correct and will try to fill the page before moving on. I love how this first one actually looks like a wave (though I suspect the green scribble there was Sawyer's doing). The second one didn't scan well but she nearly has all 16 colors from the crayon box going here.