Is your child a potential art master? Join Art-Club Junior
- Mark East
- Jun 2
- 3 min read
As a proud parent or like myself a grandparent, it is a joy to sit at home and watch a toddler scribbling away. These early marks on paper may seem simple, but for many of us they are full of meaning, wonder, and promise.
But are they? Are you sitting with a potential art master?
You may want to share your child’s artwork and your thoughts with other like-minded parents. Not to boast or brag, but to celebrate development, learn from one another, and support children as they grow.
You may love art yourself, even if you are not an artist, and wonder whether your child has talent. But how can you know?
Are those early scribbles meaningful are they normal how can you help and make a difference?
Explanation
Most children move from scribbling to more realistic art because their motor skills, thinking, and understanding of symbols develop over time. Early scribbles begin as simple cause-and-effect play. As hand and finger control improves, those marks become more deliberate. Later, children begin to understand that drawings can stand for real objects, people, and stories.
What changes
Fine motor control improves, allowing children to make deliberate lines, curves, and shapes rather than random marks.
Symbolic thinking develops, so they begin to understand that a drawing can represent a person, house, or animal.
Planning and memory improve, helping them draw with more detail and purpose.
They gain experience by seeing art, receiving encouragement, and experimenting with different materials.
Why realism comes later and why Art-Club Junior could be an exciting addition.
Realistic art requires a child to observe closely, hold an image in mind, and control marks with precision. For this reason, it develops gradually rather than all at once. Scribbling is not a failure stage; it is the foundation that leads to drawing, labelling, and eventually more realistic representation.
A simple example
A toddler may first enjoy making loops and lines because it feels good and creates a mark. Later, that same child may say, “This is my mum,” and add a circle for a head, legs, and extra details once they understand that marks can carry meaning.
As a proud grandparent, I have watched our grandson scribble and, having some knowledge of art, even painted him playing in the garden with a watering can.
I awoke this morning thinking about it and then it suddenly struck me: how many parents and grandparents want to share these thoughts? Not just within the local toddler group, but with others across a much wider community.
Education is under pressure from unedited content, and many children are placed in front of a television to watch the latest Fred Rogers in the USA or Justin Fletcher in the UK on the BBC. Yet alongside screen time, there is something deeply valuable in simply watching a child create, explore, and develop through art.
Art-Club Junior
So I decided to do something about it. We have created a new group at Art-Marco "Art-Club Junior" It's specifically for parents and their toddlers and its all about art.
Its open to all it's free and all you have to do is register, add your email address and set a password. I hope you will join us and enjoy the joy of old fashioned education where parents and children can share thoughts and ideas about art in children's development.
Oh and there is nothing to stop Toddler Group Teachers Posting as well if they want to join as our gallery has.
We thought it would be nice to display Junior Art in the gallery. Not for sale just for a bit of fun and something for the slightly older members of Art-Club Junior to be proud of.
So each month we will pick four winners from the age groups as posted in the Art-Club Junior Group by parents, grand parents or toddler group teachers and display them in the gallery.
Age Group Categories
2 to 4,
4+to 6
6+to 10
10+
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