What should a 5 year old's drawing look like?

[Ohio12]

I know it will vary greatly, but my dd loves to draw, but I am actually a little worried that especially her people look like a 2 yo drawing. How can I help her with this? or has anyone had dcs in a drawing class? not trying to be super hyper about this, I just wondered if there was something I didn't tell or show her that could help her.

[Crissy]

At the age of five, I would just let her enjoy drawing. There will be plenty of time to teach her drawing and painting skills in the future.
Sometimes art is about the process of creating, and not about the end result.

[Whisperlily]

My kids, all seem to be very artistic. 2 of them started drawing as soon as they could pick up a pencil.

One of my kids *flat refused* to pick up a crayon, pencil or anything until after his 5th birthday. His first drawings were very primitive...

He's the most amazing artist now at age 9. I can't begin to tell you how awesome his work is. Fascinating. People comment on it all the time.

I wouldn't worry. Give her plenty of opportunities, and just let her enjoy what she is doing.

I'm not artistic, not even a little. I'm not bothered by it at all. ;) My kids get their talent from my very artistic DH.

[OnTheBrink]

She may be a smidge behind on motor skills, but at her age, I'd not worry that much about it. Does she write yet?

[Ohio12]

"She may be a smidge behind on motor skills, but at her age, I'd not worry that much about it. Does she write yet?"

Yes, her handwriting is about what I would expect from a 5 yo. She can make all the letters sometimes a few backwards and not exactly between the lines. Any suggestions?

[Jenny in Atl]

Can you post one of her drawings? I would be able to tell you if it looked way off for her age. I know some 10 yr-olds who draw like 2 yr-olds.

[Whisperlily]

"She may be a smidge behind on motor skills, but at her age, I'd not worry that much about it. Does she write yet?"

Yes, her handwriting is about what I would expect from a 5 yo. She can make all the letters sometimes a few backwards and not exactly between the lines. Any suggestions?


Time and practice. :) Sounds about normal for her age!

[OnTheBrink]

"She may be a smidge behind on motor skills, but at her age, I'd not worry that much about it. Does she write yet?"

Yes, her handwriting is about what I would expect from a 5 yo. She can make all the letters sometimes a few backwards and not exactly between the lines. Any suggestions?


Her handwriting sounds fine. As for her picture-drawing, I'd leave it be. She's really too young to draw much realistically. If she starts expressing frustration that her drawings aren't what she wants them to be, then I'd start with some very simple drawing books (maybe Draw Right Now books, or some even simpler ones) and let her have a go at them on her own. She may just be an abstract expressionist. LOL

[Sue G in PA]

heads and arms/legs growing from the heads with circles for hands and feet and 5 LONG lines coming out of them for fingers/toes. They looked more like aliens than people, LOL! My dd11 still draws people like a child much younger but she's taking an art class and she is improving. At 5, really just let them create and enjoy. Some kids just won't be inclined toward art...that isn't to say that they can't LEARN...just that they might not want to, KWIM? But, at 5, just let them create!

[Ohio12]

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I am laughing at myself posting this. I really do want to help dd, but I never would take the time to post these pictures but both kids are sick and watching tv! Also, can you imagine as a kid, if your mom posted your drawings to see if they were ok? lol. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

[Lolly]

Ed Emberly has some super easy how to draw books. They are very, very basic like putting circles together to make a caterpillar.

Of course, you will have to help her. I've found me using the book to break down the steps, and her drawing on her paper after I've done it on mine (one step at a time) works pretty well. Past that, you really just have to wait it out. Some kids are drawers and some aren't. 5 is still really young.

Btw, I know a 17 yo who draws the best stick figure cartoons! She has just accepted her lack of talent in the area and moved on. her cartoons are actually exceptionally good!

[JuJuBee]

What exactly would you expect a 5 y/o's drawing to look like? Every 5 y/o I've seen draws stick-ish people... some more primitive (i.e., head, body, arms), some more filled in (i.e., hands, shoes, eyes, smile, etc.). Her drawings look perfectly age appropriate.

[Brigitte]

Ah, jellyfish people. I know them well. My girls were doing that at 5. At 6 it changed remarkably. I woudn't worry.

[abbeyej]

I guess what I'm wondering is whether you're asking about "drawing ability" which will obviously vary widely among children, or the developmental stages that different "types" of drawing can indicate?

Certainly, if a child's drawing simply isn't very good, I wouldn't consider that a reason for worry. Yes, over time you could help teach her skills that would make her a more competent draftsman, but it's not a cause for worry.

On the other hand, if you think her drawings are missing some of the developmental progression that you would expect as a child matures from ages 2 through 5, then that might be cause for worry. I would want to consider the child's development in other ways and whether this might be a fluke or one of many indications of an overall developmental problem.

Here are a couple of links I googled quickly that outline very briefly the development one would expect in a child's drawings (regardless of artistic ability) along with examples:
http://faculty.indy.cc.ks.us/jnull/eledstages.htm
http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html
http://www.csea-scea.ca/TeachingIdeas/stages.html
http://www.artjunction.org/young.php
If you google "drawing" and "development", etc, you'll find many other similar sites...

If you're just concerned about drawing skill, I'd agree with others -- let it go, and if it bothers her, consider getting some simple "how to draw" books and doing them together with her for fun every now and then. If it doesn't bother her, just wait and see, and consider drawing lessons at some point when she's a little older.

The fine motor and writing skills you described sound very normal for her age. But writing and drawing are not the same thing despite the fact that they both require fine motor skills.

Edited to add:
I think you posted her drawings while I was typing. :) They look to me like they're fairly appropriate for her age. Some kids will draw with more detail, and the letters under the pictures look slightly wobbly to me in a way that isn't at all unusual for her age, but indicates to me that she's still working on her fine motor skills. Her drawings and writing certainly seem well within the range of normal for her age to me.

[melissel]

Those look completely normal to me :thumbup1:

[Crissy]

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I am laughing at myself posting this. I really do want to help dd, but I never would take the time to post these pictures but both kids are sick and watching tv! Also, can you imagine as a kid, if your mom posted your drawings to see if they were ok? lol. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Your daughter's drawings look perfectly age appropriate.
Offer her plenty of paper, crayons, colored pencils, etc. and encourage her love of art.

[Jenny in Atl]

They look like a bunch of others I have seen through the years while working with my mom at a local arts center. I would not worry unless you don't see some change over the next year.

Painting also tends to be easier for kids this age. But most important is that your daughter enjoys what she has made or drawn. Ask her what the picture is about, but don't ask, "is that a bird?", etc. As long as she is having a good time and enjoying the process, then the end result is not as important at this age.

[Jami]

I remember my oldest at 4-5 still drawing arms and legs coming out of the head. We didn't use it for long, but one of the useful things I took away from our short stint with Handwriting Without Tears was the Mat Man character and drawing people from that. If you're not familiar with HWT, you work with large curves, small curves, large straight lines and small straight lines to make letters. There are some activities in the Pre-K book that have you make a man with these curves and lines and use a mat (about 8.5 x 11) as the body. They show pictures in the book of children's people drawings that progress from the "jellyfish" style to people with arms, legs, bodies, ears, hands, feet, etc. after doing the Mat Man exercises. So you might look at that if you want to show her easy tricks for drawing people. :) But my guess is she'll figure out adding bodies, etc. on her own if she loves to draw and practices a lot.

Jami

[Pamela H in Texas]

They look a little on the young side, but these things are so not linear. I would guess that she'll change A LOT by 6 1/2 years old and be solidly into the next developmental level. I personally wouldn't worry about it.

BTW, my own daughter LOVES to draw, but really has no skill. I think the love is more important than the skill. In time, she may choose to do better. It's up to her though. SHe's 15.

You COULD draw WITH her discussing it a little. No reason not to suggest this or that or ask her if you should make your person skinny-minny or a little chubbier or whatever.

But she'll get it in time :)

[Angel]

I know that you are genuine in your question, but may I gently point out that she is your first born and she IS 5. I say this as a mom who had a first born (giggle...if we have more than one we all do) and know how we can stress them out over the littlest things that we wouldn't dream of bringing up with the next child in line. I'm glad you can have a little laugh over it.

My kids are very creative, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are artistically inclined. My oldest, now 13, is showing an interest in learning more in this area and we will pursue that next year. My 7yo creates ALL day. I'm not joking. I encourage and watch and "ooh & aah" but let her enjoy creating. At her age it is not about "are they doing it right" but about encouraging the process. Don't squelch the fun out of the creative process.

If your dd is interested, I would get some age appropriate drawing books from the library and leave them lying about. If she thinks they are cool...great. If not, then you really know to back off a little. My oldest loved to draw but has fine motor skill problems and so is easily put off by the smallest error or mistake. She was more frustrated by the "how to" books than helped. Dd7 could care less and takes what she needs and leaves what she doesn't. Ah, the differences in our kids are really amazing!

Let her enjoy creating and enjoy being 5!:001_smile: Don't worry about the rest.

Angel

[Asma_08]

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I am laughing at myself posting this. I really do want to help dd, but I never would take the time to post these pictures but both kids are sick and watching tv! Also, can you imagine as a kid, if your mom posted your drawings to see if they were ok? lol. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Well these are better than my son's work and he is six. Cute pictures.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I found this website that shows the developmental stages of children's drawing. This is only one example. There were several others. Just google "child development drawing", or other lists like that.

http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html

[amy g.]

I'm a former Kindergarten teacher, and those look very, very normal to me.

[Mama Anna]

My dd 4.5 wasn't doing anything but laying out colors for the longest time because I was trying to find something about her 2yo drawings/paintings to admire and would say, "Wow! What pretty colors!" It took her hanging out with a pretty talented friend (same age) for almost a year before she began to draw people at all (when she was 3yo). Now her stuff looks much like your dd - I'm just never sure how to comment on it. ("My! What a . . . tall person!") I have considered keeping some of her stuff for wedding slides, though . . .:lol:

So, in my very uneducated opinion: Normal. (As if there is such a state . . .)

Mama Anna

[percytruffle]

Your dd's drawings are fairly age-appropriate. I have a masters in art education with training in child psychology and cognitive development. I would not be concerned. I have seen kids jump from drawings resembling a two year old to those resembling an eight year old in the space of one school year. We don't all develop our fine motor skills at the same rate just as all kids don't learn to read at the same age or rate. Let her have fun and by all means, don't give her a drawing program at this age unless she wants to do it! Kids are naturally creative. She will explore and develop on her own because she enjoys it. Give her plenty of art tools to work with and let her create at her own level.

Here is a link for you:

Drawing development in children (http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html)

[shanmar]

My dd was just like Whisperlily's daughter. She now has a very unique style.

One of my son's drew very detailed pictures at age 5, and now shows very little artistic talent.

Go figure!

[Karin]

My 7 yo's people aren't much more advanced. He does put clothes on them (developmental difference) but they don't look much better technique wise. At least your dd draws. As I mentioned in the other post (was that you--about the nature journal, or am I confusing posters?) he hated drawing until nearly 6 and then drew airplanes. not just any airplane, but 747s. Now he'll draw other airplanes, sharks and trucks. Little else. But I'm not worried because my girls can draw almost anything right now and they started with a limited number of topics, too, albeit at a younger age due to interests and fine motor development--ds's was later.