# My 2 year old can draw



## Norasmomma (Feb 26, 2008)

My DD has started drawing, and it is really good for her age(25 months). She is drawing circles with eyes, mouths, arms and legs. I don't know what the average is for drawing, but to me what she is drawing seems rather advanced. Any insight? Today she drew a cat with triangles for ears, a circle for a head, eyes and a mouth.


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## lnitti (Jun 14, 2004)

Sounds ahead to me!

My 4 1/2 year old just started drawing circles with eyes and is working on adding the mouth.


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## Biscuits & Gravy (Jul 17, 2008)

That is very cool! My 2.5 year old likes to pretend to make "ABC's", but the only one he really does is "o". It sounds like art supplies might be a good gift idea for the holidays.


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## Enudely (Jul 2, 2005)

My two year old is an "advanced artist" for her age too. Here's some examples of her work. One thing my dd has LOVED has been the "Poster Paints" paint blob sticks (or whatever you call them!)
She also loves markers.

In addition to these details faces (in link), she is also writing A's, H's and working on D and she makes sunshines and clouds that are artistic and expressive.

Enjoy it! Don't make a huge deal out of it, and provide a small table dedicated to art.


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## Norasmomma (Feb 26, 2008)

Enudely-those are very similar to what my DD is drawing. Those poster paints are awesome, I may have to get some of those.

It's really not a big deal to me, I was just a little shocked. I really shouldn't be surprised, my artist skills aren't that bad. Plus my mom's father and my uncle are great artists.

I really do think art supplies are a great gift, I just went to the dollar store and bought markers, construction paper, scribble pads, kids scissors, paintbrushes, glue and glitter. I would like to get her an easel also. I just gave her a backpack and now the markers and scribble pads have been hanging out in there for easy access.

It just seemed early for a child to draw things that are obviously what they are supposed to be with such skill. Of course I am one proud mama.


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## leximom (Jul 4, 2005)

I think it's earlier than average. My dd started drawing people right after she turned three. They were, and still are faces with all the normal stuff including hair and ears and then just arms and legs with no body


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## jennert (Oct 22, 2008)

i worked in daycare for several years. by the time kids were drawing like that, we were ready to move them to the three year old room. to move to the three year old room, they had to be potty trained and close to turning or already three. from my experience, that's a bit advanced.


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## ecoteat (Mar 3, 2006)

DD is 29 mo and still mostly does whole arm arcs with her crayon, and occasionally a round shape. But nothing like that! I'd be amazed if she drew a face!


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## Norasmomma (Feb 26, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jennert* 
i worked in daycare for several years. by the time kids were drawing like that, we were ready to move them to the three year old room. to move to the three year old room, they had to be potty trained and close to turning or already three. from my experience, that's a bit advanced.









She is potty trained and has been for quite a few months. My SIL works in the local preschool and was pretty amazed about this too. So it sounds like she's a bit ahead...I'm not surprised she's been a bit of a go-getter since birth.


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## soccermama (Jul 2, 2008)

Wow - how cool!! DS is pretty good at circles and triangles and mixing colors together. One of my girlfriends bought him a Crayola bath crayon set for his birthday and he LOVES it. You can buy additional crayons that come in pastel colors - great for drawing Easter eggs on the side of the tub and certainly makes bathtime much more fun!!


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## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

When I was 27 months old, I was drawing people with eyes (complete with pupils!), noses, mouths, ears, hair and bodies (legs and arms too, of course). Sometimes clothes and lots of times hats (my mom kept lots of my stuff). And I turned out LOVING to draw, draw and draw some more. Today I'm an artist. And drawing people is my favorite thing to draw. Yay!

I'd say your girl is _very_ gifted. Provide her with as much art stuff as she so desires! My mom made sure that I was never without all the necessary art stuff.

My daughter, on the other hand, is 4.5 and STILL I have yet to see any bodies on her people - they usually just consist of a face with arms and legs sprouting from the head. Oh well.









(My 2.5 year old still scribbles a bunch of lines and calls them bugs or dogs or firetrucks, though they all look exactly the same). LOL!

Sweet kids.


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## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *pookie50104* 
DS is pretty good at circles and triangles *and* *mixing colors together*.

Speaking of mixing colors, we have those blue disc things in our toilets that "make" blue water when you flush them. Today DS1 (2.5) told me he had to pee in the front bathroom because there was no more blue left in the back bathroom and he wanted to "make green!"

Hilarious!


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## tankgirl73 (Jun 10, 2007)

DD is 22mo and makes loops, circles, and lines -- no people yet! But she'll make a random shape and say it's a whale... or a cat, or a car. But usually a whale lol...

Today she did something interesting, she did a circley shape, then dashed it full of vertical lines, pointed to it and said "mommy!' I guess I have a lot of hair? lol...

Anyway, I'm also curious about standard artistic development. I remember seeing a book many years ago that had great detail about the order of skills developing and how it related to the development of both their awareness of the world as well as their motor control, and had TONS of examples of art at different age levels. I can't for the life of me remember what the book was called but it was fascinating and I'd love to find it again.


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## Ks Mama (Aug 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sancta* 
When I was 27 months old, I was drawing people with eyes (complete with pupils!), noses, mouths, ears, hair and bodies (legs and arms too, of course). Sometimes clothes and lots of times hats (my mom kept lots of my stuff). And I turned out LOVING to draw, draw and draw some more. Today I'm an artist. And drawing people is my favorite thing to draw. Yay!

This is so interesting! I too was an early representational drawer, and became an artist. Of course... I think all kids are artists. I'd caution parents against being overly concerned about "recognizing" or "labeling" things in their kids drawings until much later. It doesn't really matter WHAT a child is drawing this young... what's important is the how. Giving them room to move & express themselves, and plenty of different media to try - paint, pencils, crayons, charcoal, glue, paper, fabric, foam, etc.

I think its so important for parents to recognize visually artistic talent as important as mathematical or verbal or physical or musical talent, and encourage children just as much in that direction, if it seems a kid has a proclivity towards visual art. I think too often it gets dismissed as a passtime or hobby, not taken seriously.

Anyhow, here's an interesting link I found off of google search

http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfo...#anchor2501390


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## greenmagick (Jun 6, 2006)

My dd was drawing faces around 21 months(complete with ears, hair, and mustaches/beards as needed







), and soon started adding legs and arms. She also herself holding a teddy bear (round muzzle and ears) and a cat (triangular ears and whiskers). I was wondering if this was a bit ahead. There are a bunch of artists in the family though


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## kblackstone444 (Jun 17, 2007)

Sounds like you guys have some advanced artists there. I've been a preschool teacher for years and I've seen most children only begin drawing like that between ages 3 and 4.


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## tallulahma (Jun 16, 2006)

I thought it was normalish too.

dd1 was about 2ish when she started drawing things that looked like things.

by the time she was 2 1/2 she was drawing quite well- cshe drew a "mama" complete with hair, eyes, smiles, nose, body, and a baby in her belly (i was pregnant) and a "kid" in a rocket ship......

nak


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## teeg1973 (Oct 15, 2008)

I have worked with many an art therapist (and am/was a creative arts therapist, although different modality) and I can agree that those of you who have 2 year-olds with the mentioned abilities are definitely above the curve. I do have a book that describes in detail the developmental curve of visual art abilities, but unfortunately it is in storage in another country at the moment







:

I am pretty sure the following link gives examples from the book I am thinking of. HTH's someone!
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~kbr...s/children.htm

Tracy


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## lolar2 (Nov 8, 2005)

I drew early, took a few art classes in school and pretty much stopped there-- I'm not much of an artist but had fun. When I do anything like that nowadays it's needle-crafting of some sort. Anyway, I have a book that you might like called "The Arts And Crafts Busy Book for Toddlers" which has all kinds of fun stuff.


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## LuckyMommaToo (Aug 14, 2003)

This post is so timely. My 2 (almost 2-1/2) drew this a few weeks ago on a post-it note:

__
https://flic.kr/p/2968778740

I think it's so shocking to me b/c DS only started representational drawing after 4. He is SO not into art.

At any rate, DD loves laying on the ground and drawing for a good length of time, so I'll take it! It'll be interesting to see whether it develops into a longer term interest or not....
-e


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## Norasmomma (Feb 26, 2008)

Well I have been making finger paints and also bought her some paintbrushes. My paints are just simple flour/water in a 1:1 ratio w/ food coloring and I put them in an old muffin tin. She loves painting also.

teeg1973-Thank you for that link, that has really helped me get a better idea of where her skills are at in the scheme of things.

I am just so proud of her abilities! And I want to foster any and all skills she has.


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## LuxPerpetua (Dec 17, 2003)

It's really amazing how much kiddos can vary in their talents, huh? Your dd's drawings are really impressive.

My dd is similar to yours, I think. She blew me away at 22 months when she started drawing faces. She's now nearly 3 and goes through spurts where she does a lot of art and then dry spells where she's totally uninterested. One thing I like to do is let her draw on a small magnadoodle in the car to keep the ride from being so boring. I also keep up poster paper on one of our walls with random crayons/marker/chalk so she can just up and draw whenever the mood strikes. I think I paid $7 for a big roll of Melissa and Doug paper at our local teacher supply shop--well worth it!

Good luck in encouraging your budding artist!


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## cmhotzler (May 29, 2005)

My first ds was drawing moving figures (running etc. ) at around two yrs. old. He is now 10 yrs. old and a wonderful, creative artist. My dd couldn't draw a circle til she was 4 yrs. old! Still very simplistic drawings in kindergatren. We thought that ds was the one with the artist ability, still we encouaged art for both and praised dd (and ds) all the time. Flash forward...my now almost 11 yr. old son still is fabulous at drawing, and my 8 1/2 yr.old daughter is also now FABULOUS! She just took longer to get there! The point is, who cares if it is advanced or not? Just keep encouraging it and offering lots of time for art with different materials etc...even if your child is a prodigy at drawing, they might not be in a year or two, they might not like it anymore, or they are just "early" learners and never get beyond the norm in later years...but if you just make it fun and creative, good or not, they will learn to love art and all things it about it! Have fun! Get creative! And save those drawings! I have a basket for each child and save everything, then once a month, we sit down and pick out 2 or 3 best ones (in both our eyes), date them, and pack them away for the future-the rest we put in recycling. Someday, you will love watching the progress of their art, and so will they!


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## nathansmum (Nov 13, 2003)

I was amazed when my just turned 2yr old started drawing a large circle body, large circle eyes, 2 legs and 2 arms. My ds was 4.5 before he started drawing like that! She loves drawing and painting and had done right from about 12mths old. She colours things in too whereas ds only started that close to 5yrs old. She is 3.5 now and does full on story pictures (still squiggly looking, but full of trees with plums, or her brother swinging on a hammock etc). A few weeks back she was grumpy at me for something and went away and drew a picture of her with a sad face and came and showed it to me as her being mad at me.


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## leximom (Jul 4, 2005)

I'm loving this thread







I had no idea so many other kids skipped the body when drawing people. I was beginning to think that maybe she really thought we we are heads with arm and legs. Lately my dd had been drawing ladybugs like crazy


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## eurobin (Aug 20, 2006)

That sounds awesome to me! Anna can just barely make a circle-ish object. According to the link above, she's just hitting the 18 month mark now at 27 months (but she's fine/ahead with other milestones so it doesn't worry me... she's always lagged behind in the fine motor skills area though.)


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