Artistic Milestones: Is Your Child on Track?

I've always been a fan of the arts, so, to me, artistic milestones are as important in my daughter's education as milestones in reading, socialization, and mathematics. Although she's no prodigy and I don't expect her to grow up to be Da Vinci, I'm happy to watch her develop artistic skills. All kids should develop some artistic abilities according to a standard timeline. Like other academic skills, artistic milestones signify proper development of creativity, fine motor skills, and cognitive skills. Although children vary in their writing and drawing abilities, here are some artistic milestones that your child should reach within a given time period.

1. Your toddler should scribble before 15 months. Between your child's first birthday and fifteen months of age, he should be able to make distinct marks on a piece of paper using a marker or crayon.

2. By two and a half, his pictures should represent real things. They should by no means be recognizable, but a two-and-a-half-year-old's drawings should be intended to represent real objects or people. He might draw an indecipherable scribble and tell you it's "Mommy," but his masterpieces won't show identifiable images.

3. Kids should know colors by age three. A child with normal speech and vision development should be able to accurately identify the at least four colors by name. It isn't uncommon for kids this age to confuse similar colors, such as orange and red, but they should know the names of at least a few.

4. Expect "M&M people" by three to four years of age. You know these guys-- big circles intended to represent both a body and a head. They may have match-stick arms and legs sticking out.

5. Preschoolers should draw crosses, squares, and circles

Children should be able to draw simple shapes some time between three and five. Circles, ovals, and triangles usually come first; squares, rectangles, and diamonds last.

6. Before kindergarten, you should be able to identify images in your child's drawings.When your child is around four years old, you should be able to look at her drawings and know what she's showing you. The sun, cat, tree, and house in a drawing should be readily identifiable.

7. Kids five to seven years old will begin adding more details. Kids this age will begin drawing skies and backgrounds in their artwork. People in their drawings will have hair, noses, fingers, clothes and other details. Be sure to have plenty of magnets to hang these masterpieces on your fridge.

8. Expect relative realism by age nine. Your child's art, at this age, won't be truly realistic unless he is a prodigy. However, you can expect a child this age to have recognizable drawings or paintings created from observation.

Just as it's fine for kids to be lagging in math or at language studies, it's perfectly okay that some kids aren't particularly skilled in the arts. Not all kids learn according to the same arc of development. However, if your child is behind his peers in artistic milestones, he may benefit from occupational therapy (to improve his fine motor skills) or extracurricular art lessons. Mention any concerns to his teacher or pediatrician so he can get extra help if necessary.