For the past six months or so, I have been painting quite a bit with my almost three-year-old daughter, Luna. We started with a simple watercolor set that came attached to a coloring book she picked out. Initially the water seemed to intrigue her more than the paint, and it was quite a messy experience. I made a concentrated effort to let her paint how she wanted to, giving her minimal instruction about dipping the brush, and some ways to stroke it on the page.
The pictures in the coloring book seemed to limit her creativity. I wasn’t too interested in her just learning to color in the lines yet, so I started to give her white pieces of paper to see what she would do with them. Initially the paintings were monochromatic. I noticed that after her water fascination, the paints, more than the pictures she was creating, held her interest. When I noticed that, I bought her finger paints, so that she could have more of a sensory experience with the paints. Oddly enough, she only liked them for a few hours, and wanted to wash her hands in between each color exploration. After she used all the paints, I purchased a slightly higher quality watercolor tray that came with a much softer brush. When given the option of using the new brush versus the old one, she chose the new one, which I found interesting. I know, from my limited painting experience that the new brush was a better one, and perhaps she knows that as well from her limited painting experience.
The new watercolors were significantly more malleable and I noticed a lot more use of texture in her newer pieces. In just a few months after being introduced to paints, Luna was clearly identifying her art work, and regardless of me being able to recognize what she is painting or not, she is completely aware and deliberate.
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