Children Communicating Through Art
When you’re little, it can be hard to put your emotions into words. But being able to express your feelings is learning to communicate and manage your emotions, in order to grow up to be a confident adult. In fact, drawing allows the child to express himself, even if he does not have the words to do so. It can be very frustrating for younger children not to be able to make themselves understood. Drawing therefore provides them with a means of expression when they cannot describe what they are feeling.
Put drawings on feelings
Drawing is a form of expression at an age when children don’t necessarily have the words to express what they are feeling. Do not hesitate to encourage a child to draw what he feels so that he can understand what state he really is.
A therapeutic expression
During a sad or annoying event, it is advisable to ask the child to draw a picture of his feelings. In some cases, it will be difficult for the child to express himself in words: drawing then becomes a form of therapeutic expression. Since it can do us good to talk after a particularly bad day, drawing will have the same effect on a child. We can use stories to help the child. Most of these stories, in one way or another, relate to events that the child can project into. They act as a filter in the expression of feelings. As you get your child to illustrate a story, you can understand their feelings by interpreting how they choose to illustrate the different scenes.
Analyze the drawings
The details of a drawing can say a lot about a child’s state of mind. Because a drawing can express joy, anger, sadness… It is necessary to be based on the choices made in the construction of the drawing: if the character has a mouth in the shape of a lightning bolt, as if he was angry , you can imagine that your child is too. You can then use the drawing to start a dialogue. Through drawing, the child also talks to those around him, to his parents. It is a very useful tool for parents looking to create dialogue and support their child in dealing with his feelings.
Don’t forget checking some of our drawing exercises for kids:
–Cat drawing for kids
–Car drawing for kids
–Zebra drawing for kids