Although they do not yet understand letters and numbers, when children hold writing tools, they play with them and doodle according to their imagination. Anything in front of them becomes a canvas for their doodles. Whether it’s a newspaper, a book, a table, a chair, the floor or even a wall, they will scribble on it.
Parents should never prohibit or scold when children doodle. It is best to establish agreements from the beginning about what places are allowed for the little one to doodle.
Furthermore, doodling is one of the developmental stages that children must go through. Behind the little one’s messy scribblings lie benefits for his growth and development.
First of all, it develops your cognitive and linguistic skills. When doodling, they will say that they are drawing a shape, whether it be a car, a motorcycle, a train, a cartoon character, etc. However, what appears are just random scribbles and meaningless shapes if only adults see them. Or maybe only triangles emerge.
Do not interrupt children when they are narrating their imagination. In this way, children will continue to perfect their creativity. A child who loves to doodle indicates spatial intelligence.
Secondly, children begin to show interest in learning. Asking parents for writing tools means that the child’s desire to learn has arisen. Provide colored crayons or markers. In this way, the child will also learn to recognize colors.
Providing writing tools can also be seen as a reward to the child for his or her efforts to doodle. With this recognition, the child will continue to be excited about learning and parents will be able to gradually guide him or her to turn scribbling into learning opportunities. For example, introducing numbers, basic geometric shapes and other fundamentals.
Third, he develops social-emotional skills. Doodles serve as a means for children to channel their emotions. When the child is happy, he will draw something happy and smile. Or they could express their anger by drawing their father looking angry because he simply scolded them.