Evening star., 1941-06-18
Give Drawing
Equipment
ToChild
Encourage Effort
Which Indicates
Imagination
Lefsice Lee Street,

What mother has not, with grim
lips. attempted to wash from her
walls the artistic efforts OF her
offspring? Here is the time for
patience and self-control and
quick trip to the 1O-cent store
for big sheets of paper and crayons
that we hope will inspire the young
artist more than the painted walls
of the living room!
Jane is about years old ana
one morning lately when her
mother went into her room to help
her dress, she was greeted by her
little girls radiant smile, and point
| ing to the wall in back of the CRIB,
Jane chortled, Look, Mummie! at
the pretty picture drew of you"
There, in bold red and purple
crayon strokes was drawn a large
object that resembled an angry hip
popotamuS more than anything else.
BY the time Jane is 6 years old
she will have gone beyond this
scribbling stage and will engage
herself with serious pre-occupatlon
in the task of drawing pictures OF
familiar objects that appeal to her.
Young children like to draw peo-
pie, houses, automobiles, trees, flow
erS, boats, birds, trains and AMI
mails. They prefer bright colors
and are not critical about the ex-
actneSs of their drawings. 1t does
not make any difference to the
imaginative child whether a pussy
cat has no legs, as long as it has
long tail or whiSkerS, or whatever
it is about a cat that the child
admires most.
A little child accentuates in his
drawings the objects that he finds
most interesting, thus very large
train will go footing by an ex-
tremely small tree and house.
Drawing appeals to most children
because the average child is men,
tally active and enjoys physical
outlet for his imagination and his
normal creative instinct. What a
child draws shows not only the
extent of his muscular control of
the hands, but also reveals the
| development of his imagination,
tastes, personality and his powers
| of observation.
The young child is short on pa
tience and memory and therefore
he draws quickly before his interest
lags and the mental image of the
picture he wants to make fades.
By all means provide your young
artist with the crayons, paints
paper, coloring books, colored sand
and clay that he clamors for, bear
| ing always in mind that large i'm
plements and big pieces of paper
will be easier for him as they permit
action of the large muscles that
it is natural for the younger child
TO use.
Be sympathetic about giving ad-
vice when it is asked for, but try
not to impose your adult conven-
tlonS upon your child. If he wants
TO paint a pink dog instead of a
brown one, by all means let him dc
so. thus allowing him full play
of his imagination. Try to discour-
age copying which destroys imag-
ination and originality.
If a child is encouraged to use
his hands in drawing, painting and
small crafts before he starts to &c
to school he will find it easier to
learn to write when that important
! time comes.
We have prepared a helpful
chart of average foods suitable
for young children which we
will mail to you upon request.
Just ask for our CLASSIFIED
FOOD TABLES, and inclose a
Scent stamp. Print your name
and address clearly and direct
your request to the Woman's De-
partment of The Evening Star.
ILL.,