Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/scribbling-in-early-childhood-why-do-young-children-make-marks/5027048/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
The expression of self is an innate ability of young children, and we see this in the many ways in which they develop different gestures as a means of communication (Longobardi et al., 2015). With one glimpse into a toddler classroom, we see a child using their words to ask a peer for space; someone else is using their fine motor skills to wave hello to a friend; another offers a material to a friend who is sad; and a small group is exploring the relationship between flowers, watercolors, and coffee filters, communicating their motivation to make meaning of their world. These gestures and more occur constantly within relationships between young children and their worlds, as they underlie this innate desire of the child to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas (Smith, 2021).
While I was completing my master’s degree and teaching residency at Boulder Journey School, a Reggio-inspired school in Boulder, Colorado, I learned alongside a group of children who were 2.1-2.5 years of age. One particular gesture of communication that piqued my interest within this toddler classroom was that of mark-making. It was a plane of development that seemed to ...