Grayden's Observational Drawings

The sensory table was filled with colorful Indian corn and Grayden and Vika were working hard to pry the kernals off with their fingers. (Hard work!) Grayden noticed Vika's beautiful observational drawing of the corn cob in a nearby table and wanted to try making one. He brought the corn cob to the table and got to work.

It was a long an complicated process from studying the cob to adding the final touches with paint, pastels, and marker. In his own words:

First, I drew with a Sharpie. I drew a rectangle. I drew long lines like hair. I put circles on the other end and on the two sides. But there's nothing on the back. I used red, blue, brown, blue, yellow, purple, green, green, blue, organge, blue, blue, blue. And yellow! And then, after, we cut it out.

Young children are usually very comfortable expressing their ideas through drawing. But most drawing experiences children have are centered on drawing from their imagination or memory. Learning to draw what you see is often a new skill, and with practice, can become an important tool for communication, understanding, and documentation before learning to write.