Following Her Lead
My daughter started showing an interest in drawing. It was clear from her constantly trying to take pens and draw with them. I knew it was time to dive into coloring and scribbling more. Perfect timing—our next KiwiCo order came with 3 chunky crayons and made the jump in easier. It also felt affirming, “Oh, we should start coloring now. It’s time.”
Our Growing Creative Space
Our coloring adventures have expanded. We started simply by putting her in her high chair and letting her color with paper and new large crayons. Now we have parchment paper set up on the coffee table with her large block crayons and standard small ones to explore.
Taking it a step further, we have taken art outside. We’ve begun drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. The outside air always brings down any amped energy, and the chalk gives her a focused, engaging activity to work on. I’ve found these outdoor chalk sessions surprisingly freeing for myself too. Drawing alongside her, I noticed I had no harsh judgment of my own artistic abilities. Perhaps it’s knowing the rain will eventually wash it all away, but there’s something liberating about creating art without permanence. These sidewalk sessions have become special moments where we both enjoy focused creativity in the fresh air.
Surprising Language Development
What surprised me the most was that I was secretly wondering if I was doing enough with language around colors. Now that we color and draw so often, I realized I was worried for nothing. It is so easy to talk about colors when you’re drawing!
My daughter has been full of expressive language and copying many new things a day that I’m modeling. To my surprise, while doing chalk outside, she copied “orange,” “purple,” and I thought, “Well ok, I guess you are learning color labels, not just the fine motor skills and simple fun creating and exploring.”
Toddler Transformation
It’s been cute to see her transition more from baby to true toddler. She runs now more than walks. She explores and investigates, she sings little songs to herself, she colors and scribbles with delight. She stands and walks over new challenging surfaces eager to expand her balance and skills. She seems to imitate and copy new words everyday.
Making Art Accessible
We plan to move soon, so I’ve been in a holding pattern to get a small table for her to be able to do her own activities on. In the meantime, I invested in the Melissia and Doug Wooden Tabletop Paper Roll Dispenser. It’s made coloring easy and accessible. I pull it out, tear it off, and tape it down with painter’s tape.
I leave it down until it’s either full or she has shown a desire to take it off the table. Then I place a new sheet down for a new day, and we are off again. I’m most excited about this because we will be able to do it anywhere, which makes creativity easy. We have been very happy with it, and I highly recommend it.
And if you’re not ready to trust your toddler with crayons just yet, I highly recommend adventures with chalk. Chalk works wonderfully outdoors and rinses away effortlessly. It’s a perfect low-stress introduction to artistic expression that both parent and child can enjoy together.
For more toddler adventures check out our blog.
Note: I don’t have any paid sponsors. Any products I recommend are things we’ve used and loved and highly recommend.
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