In fact, examining children’s drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional and cognitive development of the young child. From toddlerhood through primary school, children choose to draw and color, but the process starts much earlier – during toddlerhood.

At around the age of a year and a half toddlers become interested in scribbling. It appears to provide sensory enjoyment, but the child is also interested in the marks that are made. The act of scribbling can serve several useful purposes for the young child. Small muscle coordination and control improve with practice, cognitive abilities are exercised, opportunities for social interaction arise, and the physical movements provide emotional release.

Because a toddler’s fine muscle control is not fully developed, he may approach the coloring sheet by grasping the marker with his or her fist and may have difficulty placing the marks exactly where he or she wants them. Movements are typically large, involving the entire arm with very little finger or wrist control. This is because the pattern of physical development in children begins from the center of the trunk outward.

With practice, your child will naturally improve his or her control. Full control, however, will not be achieved until much later. A few toddlers rest the forearm on the drawing surface to give them additional control. A repetitive scrubbing motion is common among two-year-olds. This provides them with sensory enjoyment and making drawing a very physical act.

By providing children with the materials and opportunities to scribble we can promote physical skills. Just as babbling is a natural way to gain language, scribbling is the precursor to muscle control and coordination.

Intellectually toddlers are concerned with both the process and results of their art. They really do not intend to represent objects at first. Instead, they are mainly concerned with color and line. However, they may look at the marks and scribbles they have made and, in surprise, recognize a shape and name it. While they may not have intended to draw a dog or tree, the scribbles suggest the shapes. Children interpret, rather than intend. This is called fortuitous realism and becomes common as a child approaches three years of age.

As a parent you can encourage your child to draw and color by offering him or her opportunities to do so. Provide them with blank sheets of paper to let their creativity run wild or supply a coloring book or coloring sheets – many of which are available free of charge online. Little boys may enjoy coloring images of  cars and trucks or of favorite characters such as Spiderman and at sites like Spiderman Coloring you’ll find Spiderman coloring as well as coloring pages, funny pics and more. For little girls search for coloring pages of princesses or fairies or anything else she may be interested in such as Disney characters or even trucks!

Remember however that toddlers need constant supervision while coloring due to the choking hazard that crayons pose.

Any alphabet learning activity you begin with your child should last only five to ten minutes per day depending on your child. As a parent, you already know the length of your child’s attention span and can time each activity accordingly. Also, plan only one activity per session introducing five letters at a time. Learning the alphabet in no particular order is difficult for children, but is an essential skill needed for their success as readers. Keeping activities short and engaging will make an enormous difference to children as they begin to learn the basics of reading.

Here are some ideas for you to try at home.

Letter of the day

Nominate a letter of the day – for example the letter S – and plan a couple of activities around that. For example, print and color coloring sheets of a favourite character such as Spongebob Squarepants whose initials are SS and at sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Spongebob coloring images. Also, eat food beginning with S such as sausages or sweetcorn and do some of the other activities mentioned in this article involving the letter S.

Bath time foam letters

Parents can purchase a bucket of foam letters from any dollar store. These letters are fantastic fun for your young learner in the bathtub. Parents can place letters on the side of the bathtub, spell our words and review letters.

Shaving cream letters

Parents take a cookie sheet or spray shaving cream directly on your kitchen table. Ask your child to smooth out the cream to form a square. Hold your child’s index finger and assist him with forming a letter. Then ask your child to wipe the letter away and start again.

Letter art

Using bingo dabbers or finger paints have your child create one large uppercase letter filling the entire space of an A4 piece of paper. Create each letter following the alphabetical order and decorate the child’s bedroom or playroom with these letters. The art your child creates will mean so much more to him than any store bought alphabet poster.

Magnetic letters

Place five magnet letters on a cookie sheet and tell your child the letter you would like for her to find. Be sure to alternate turns when your child has mastered all letters.

Rice printing

Spread out a thin layer of uncooked rice on a cookie sheet. Choose a letter with your child and ask him to draw it in the rice. Repeat using other letters. This will give your sensory motivated learner another way to internalize letters.

In fact, examining children’s drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional and cognitive development of the young child. From toddlerhood through primary school, children choose to draw and color, but the process starts much earlier – during toddlerhood.

At around the age of 18 months, toddlers become interested in scribbling. It appears to provide sensory enjoyment, but the child is also interested in the marks that are made. The act of scribbling can serve several useful purposes for the young child. Small muscle coordination and control improve with practice, cognitive abilities are exercised, opportunities for social interaction arise, and the physical movements provide emotional release.

Because a toddler’s small muscle control is not fully developed, he or she may approach the coloring sheet by grasping the marker with his or her fist and may have difficulty placing the marks exactly where he or she wants them. Movements are typically large, involving the whole arm with very little finger or wrist control. This is because the pattern of physical development proceeds from the center of the trunk outward.

With practice, the toddler will naturally improve his or her control, full control, however, will not be achieved until much later. A few toddlers rest the forearm on the drawing surface to give them additional control. A repetitive scrubbing motion is common among two-year-olds. This provides them with sensory enjoyment and making drawing a very physical act.

By providing children with the materials and opportunities to scribble a parent can promote physical skills. Just as babbling is a natural way to gain language, scribbling is the precursor to muscle control and coordination.

Intellectually toddlers are concerned with both the process and results of their art. They do not intend to represent objects at first. Instead, they are concerned with color and line. However, they may actually look at the scribbles they have made and, in surprise, recognize a shape and name it. While they may not have intended to draw a dog or tree, the scribbles suggest the shapes. Children interpret, rather than intend. This is called fortuitous realism and becomes common as a child approaches three years of age.

As a parent you can encourage your child to draw and color by offering him or her opportunities to do so.  Let them loose on blank sheets of paper or provide them with a coloring book or coloring sheets, many of which  are available online. Little boys may enjoy coloring images of  cars and trucks or of favorite characters such as Pokemon and at sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Pokemon to color in

Little girls on the other hand tend to prefer images of fairies and princesses and these too are plentiful online.

Remember that toddlers need constant supervision while coloring due to the choking hazard that crayons pose.

Nutrition plays a vital role in development. Apart from that, sleep is the maximum growth period. Sleep time varies with your baby’s age. This is why new born babies sleep almost all day. Each day your baby grows and the muscles in his body increases with time. By the time your baby reaches one year, he will begin to pick things up, try getting into a standing position, feed himself and clap his hands.

If you feed your baby with more nutritious food, growth and development will be faster. A malnourished baby does not develop soon. At the time your baby reaches 13 to 15 months, he will play with his toys and try to talk. He will also walk without support. Some babies walk during 6 months. This is very unusual. Toys play important part in developing babies. Your baby will move his hands and legs and try to dance if you play a bosendorfer piano . When he reaches 18 to 20 months, he will not only walk but run and walk up stairs. Now he can feed himself very well and play with building blocks. Also he will like to look at cartoons and watch television. At this age your baby will say quite a lot of words and do a lot of mischief.

By the time your baby reaches his second birthday, he will get more naughtier and mess about everything. So, this is the time when you have to be careful and maintain safety precautions at home. Know that every child is different. At this time your baby will dump and fall into everything and hurt himself too often. By this if his head is hurt there are chances of internal injury which might last too longer and damage the brain.

Take care of such things and have a great time watching your baby grow and develop at the same time.