We bought Frida a small set of Stockmar crayons for her first birthday. We opted for blocks rather than sticks as mark making is already relatively new to her, so I want her to focus on that rather than also trying to hold a pencil shaped crayon in the correct way; when I have previously used coloured pencils or pens with her it’s been too difficult.
This morning Frida woke up early so I thought we would try them out before breakfast. I taped some paper to her table, demonstrated that she could use the blocks to make marks, then left her to it. The end result is slightly closer to Pollock than Caravaggio, but I like it.
She seemed to understand quite quickly how crayons “work”, but was probably more interested in exploring the crayons – and of course the tin! This will definitely be an activity to repeat as she seemed to enjoy it, despite my advice that she should probably not attempt to eat the orange crayon. I do think she is still probably a bit young to be interested in art and mark making but I will keep giving her opportunities to discover and develop her interest.
At what age did your children start mark making? Were there any materials they preferred to use?
