How Toddlers Develop Artistic Skills

Drawing is a developmental milestone that toddlers reach at varying ages depending upon their personalities, neurological development, and learning abilities. But most toddlers develop art skills according to a relatively predictable timeline. Here's how you can generally expect your toddler to begin drawing.

1. Toddlers can generally scribble by 16 months.

In general, toddlers begin scribbling on paper at about 12 to 13 months of age -- and the vast majority can scribble by the time they reach 16 months of age. However, my own daughter actually couldn't make a mark on paper until nearly 18 months, and went on to gain fairly impressive artistic skills. Nevertheless, experts advise bringing it up with your toddler's pediatrician if he can't scribble by the time he reaches 16 months of age.

2. Drawings take shape before age 2. Between 18 and 24 months of age, most toddlers will start to create drawings with some degree of discernable shape. Toddlers in this age group can generally copy a drawing of a horizontal or vertical line, although it's likely to look wobbly and imprecise. A few will begin drawing fairly recognizable circles and swirls, but these may come later. In general, toddlers under age 2 will not try to draw representations of actual objects or people.

3. Toddlers draw artistically by 2 1/2 years. You can't expect your toddler to replicate the Mona Lisa, but, in general, toddlers start drawing representations of objects, people, and animals by the time they reach 2 1/2 years of age. By 30 months, most toddlers will attempt to use the correct colors and vaguely accurate shapes to represent common images. At this stage, you may begin to recognize your toddler's doodles as pictures of flowers, people, pets, or landscapes.

4. By age 3, toddlers master correct grip and can draw some shapes. As your toddler approaches his third birthday, you can generally expect him to accurately draw circles, lines, crosses, and possibly squares. He can hold a crayon steadily and more-or-less color within the lines of a coloring page picture. Most 3-year-olds can also draw a rough impression of a human image -- often a circle "head" attached to a line "body." As he progresses into the preschool years, his art will take on more detail.

All toddlers develop differently, but, if you're concerned about your toddler's fine-motor development, bring it up with his pediatrician. It's likely that your toddler's development is right on track, but, if he has more difficulty than usual learning to draw and write, preschool or occupational therapy may help to give him the boost he needs.