A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

For several decades, Child Psychologist have used children’s drawings to determine their cognitive abilities as well as their emotional state of mind. Once they are beyond the scribbling age, of around 2-3 years old, a child’s art begins to take on a higher form of development.

Some educators use ‘free style’ drawing, to allow a child to explore their innermost thoughts and express them on a canvas.  Lets explore some of the messages our children’s drawings are trying to reveal.

Drawing Houses, Families, and Nature:
When a child typically draws and colors pictures of their homes, their families, and natural surroundings, such as the sun, clouds, trees, and flowers, this is a sign that the child feels secure in his environment. The pictures of the child’s family represents  a social safety net, love, affection, a caring, and stable environment in which the child is able to flourish. Several children may draw these things when asked to draw free style.

Other children, may be more expressive, and this may be a sign of this child’s vivid imagination and fascination with factors of their environment. I have found students fascinated with airplanes and tend to draw them given every opportunity to do so. Others may be fascinated with fish and dolphins, or it could be their constant exposure to this type of environment, particularly in the Red Sea area,; where it would not be uncommon to find a student fascinated with drawing pictures of boats, fish, dolphins and even mermaids.

On the darker side, when you find your child is really bothered by something and is unable to express themselves verbally, then ask them to draw a photo of it, and explain the photo to you. For example, if they have fear of the dark, they could draw pictures of a number of monsters, or other “scary” creatures, to exhibit the fear they harbor. Other times they may draw themselves with a ‘sad face’ to show the signs that something in their life is making them sad, ask them to explain the picture, rather than explaining themselves, as this will assist you in identifying the causes of their moods, and help you to change the environment to reflect a more positive mood; I.e. back to drawing flowers again.

By Lahoma Williams, Independent Educational Consultant