When did your little ones begin coloring?

766 Views 19 Replies 19 Participants Last post by uberwench, Jun 25, 2004

P-chan

Discussion Starter · Jun 23, 2004

When do babies begin coloring? I have not introduced my 13-month-old to the concept yet. He usually shreds paper with his teeth, and at a friend's house last week he just wanted to eat the crayons. If it's developmentally appropriate I'd like to start to familiarize him with crayons, so he can learn that they are better for drawing with than for eating.

Can I slip in a cute story too? Tonight during his bath I was sitting outside the tub with my forearms resting on the edge, hands hanging into the tub with palms facing down. Little P took my right hand, turned it palm up, and put a stacking cup in it, and then did the same with my left hand. Then we banged stacking cups together for a while. It was so sweet!

This is my first post in Toddlers. He's not actually toddling yet, but I'm afraid he's not really a baby anymore either!

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4Marmalade

· #2 · Jun 23, 2004

I introduced the larger crayons to my ds when he was about 1 year and he promptly put them in his mouth. So they went away for a bit

. I took them out a month or two later and he started to colour with them in between putting them in his mouth. Now at 20 months he will colour a bit but it's definitely not an activity that takes up a lot of time. It holds his interest for about 5 minutes tops!

Cute bath story!

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Marsupialmom

· #3 · Jun 23, 2004

My oldest never colored and that was a problem. I think closer to two is more developmentally appropriate for that. At this age what can be fun is using a colored medium (like cornstarch gravy) and put it on his high chair tray for him to feel the texture and make a mess with.

My youngest was drawing at that age. She is three and draws better pictures than her brother or sister. LOL

As for crayons break them in half to help encourage good pencil holds.

Colorful~Mama

· #4 · Jun 23, 2004

my dd was 18mos when we started colroing with supervision, 2 when she started really enjoying it and asking to do it. i babysit two 2.5yo's and the girl loves to color (scribble but loves it) and the boy loses interest within about five minues.

at almost 4, my dd will color for literally an HOUR - she loves it and colors in the lines now and is so proud of her works of art. we mail them to friends and family lol]

sleet76

· #5 · Jun 23, 2004

My daughter is 12 months old and enjoys holding a crayon and scribbling on a piece of paper. She'll do it for about 5 minutes or so. She seems to have very good manual dexterity for her age, so not sure if this is developmentally average. It takes lots of supervision to keep her on the paper!

Daffodil

· #6 · Jun 23, 2004

At about 12 months, Lindy started to be interested in using a crayon or pen or pencil to make marks on paper. But she isn't usually interested in doing it for more than a couple of minutes, and at 17 months she still can't make anything but very faint marks. If I tell her to "push hard," she just pushes the crayon hard straight down and makes a single dot. She hasn't yet figured out how to apply some force while she's moving it around.

CraftyMommaOf2

· #7 · Jun 23, 2004

With or without eating the crayons???

DS 2.5 yrs old will still occasionally get into what he's doing and stick a crayon in his mouth and say MMMMMMMM. I paint and such, so he got an early start. Started using paint, crayons, colored pencils before 1 yr. He doesn't color in the lines by any means even now.

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applejuice

· #8 · Jun 23, 2004

Still waiting for my twenty-three year old to start coloring...

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alaska

· #9 · Jun 24, 2004

My 18 month old son loves to color. If I say "Eli, do you want to color?" he'll jump up and point to where we keep the paper & crayons. It's all scribbling lines back and forth right now, but he really likes it.

FreeRangeMama

· #10 · Jun 24, 2004

Ds1 is big on drawing. He started at around 9 months. By 13 months he was drawing shapes and lines. By 2.5 he was drawing people. He has always had good coordination and a really long attention span. Today we were coloring together and ds2 (9 months) grabs some crayons. He scribbled for about 10 seconds then started eating the crayon :LOL I turned my head for a second to take a drink and when I turned back he had 3 or 4 different colors of wax in his teeth!! I am kinda worried what the next few diaper changes will hold :LOL At least now I know he is not ready for crayons yet. I think it will be a looooong time before I let him near them again

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intensity_too

· #11 · Jun 24, 2004

I started ds on coloring at age 2. That's what he got for his birthday. He also started playing with "play doh" at that age. I've never had ab eating issue with either the crayons or "play doh". Before 2 y/o my son wouldn't have sit still long enough to get interested in either.

Truvie

· #12 · Jun 24, 2004

My son started coloring around his first birthday. He was really into it for a while. Now he colors occasionally but paint is his thing now.

Besides the actual coloring part, he also likes peeling the paper off the crayons.

You could check out "Young at Art", a book about introducing art to toddlers. Can't remember the author. Same woman who did the uncoloring books, I think.

Truvie

kofduke

· #13 · Jun 24, 2004

Around 15 months, my DS started enjoying marking on a paper with crayons or markers (we have a kind from Crayola that only mark on special crayola paper)

P-chan

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 24, 2004

Thanks for all the replies. This is quite a range! I think I'll get some crayons in the next month or so, so he can start getting used to the idea of not eating them. He's just now learned that the leaves at the park are no good, but he's still testing the rocks.

Sylith

· #15 · Jun 25, 2004

If he does eat them, be prepared for some reeeeeealllly interesting poops.

I speak from experience.

My son decided drawing with crayons was more fun than eating them around 16 months. He was into it for awhile, but now he just likes to make mommy or daddy draw pictures as he dictates (I've drawn more trains lately than I can count, sigh.)

Be sure and get the washable kind!

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skj474

· #16 · Jun 25, 2004

Coloring on WHAT?? LOL
Ds started when he was about 2. he loves it but I have to watch him now he soemtimes likes to color on the hardwood floors, and a couple weeks ago he colored his legs right after his bath.
He love to track his hands and feet on a peice of paper then he colors it in

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Dakota's Mom

· #17 · Jun 25, 2004

DS (2 next week) has been coloring since about 15 months. But like others said, he usually spends a few seconds at it. Never as long as 5 minutes. Whenever we went out to eat they would give him crayons, even when he was less than 9 months old. We just saved all the crayons in a zip lock bag. He now has a large collection. Lately however he has been pressing too hard on the paper and breaking the crayons. or his birthday we bought him some block crayons that are supposed to be harder to break. I'll let you know how he likes them after his party.

We tried play doh once but it went straight into his mouth. We thought we would try again when he is a bit older.

Kathi

kpiperj

· #18 · Jun 25, 2004

12 months. We gave her some of the big washable crayons. At first she had a hard time grasping the concept of how to make the crayons leave marks on the paper and then she had to learn how to control them. It took a couple months, but after that she was a scribbling mad woman! She loves to color and spends alot of time doing it.

kyle98sean02

· #19 · Jun 25, 2004

My 2 yo loves coloring and has been doing it for a while, at least the last 6 months. He sees his brother doing it and has to do it too. When School was in, Sean has to have his own homework to scribble on. He still has to be closely supervised though, tonight we were removing the last of his latest body art in the bath tub.

uberwench

· #20 · Jun 25, 2004

de-lurk...

:
my ds started at about 1 with crayons - but we switched over to the thick Crayola washable markers, as they require less pressure to make a mark (good for impatient toddlers). They also seemed (to ds anyway) less edible. And they really do wash off amazingly well.

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