[ssorrrento]

My son is almost 4 and doesn’t show any interest in drawing. All we get are scribbles on a page. I sat down with him last week and asked him to draw Dad, and got a blob. I asked him to draw something else and he got a toy elephant, put it on the table and tried to copy it. I thought that seemed a bit odd.

Yet I have a photo of a chalk drawing he did at 2yo of Bob The Builder that is pretty impressive. It’s like he’s regressed.

We do heaps of craft type things, and he loves cutting, sticking, stencils etc, but doesn’t like to draw. I haven’t forced him in the past, just followed his lead.

Does this sound normal for his age?

[SeaPrincess]

DS1 liked to draw at around 2, but around 2.5 we started going to a playgroup craft day and I couldn't get him to join in. He wouldn't draw or colour. He caught up once he started kindy. My mum says I didn't like to draw either.

DD is 3 and draws all the time. I assume it's just a personality thing.

[BadCat]

When my son was 4 he wouldn't even pick up a pencil. Not for any reason at all. He's now 11 and perfectly normal, although not really fond of art.

I know several of his friends also didn't draw at the same age so maybe it's fairly common.

If everything else is fine I wouldn't worry.

[RobotFerretOfDoo...]

My son's not particularly interested in drawing either. He seems normal in all other regards so it doesn't really bother me.

[dae-gu]

Both my boys have not been too fond of drawing. DS2 (4.5yrs) will draw people now, but not terribly interested, drawing certainly doesn't hold his attention.
I think it is pretty normal.

[iwanttosleepin]

DS1 drew people before his 2nd birthday. Then he regressed a bit but by the time he was 3 he could draw airplanes in detail. You could actually tell what type of plane it was!! Now at 7 he is still a prolific drawer.

DS2 is 4 years old. He's never really drawn anything. He can write a couple of letters and his kindy teacher did coax a ghosty person drawing out him. He can colour in a bit. He doesn't even really scribble...he's not into that sort of thing.

[ssorrrento]

I feel reassured, thanks. Everything else is ok and I therefore thought it a little odd. Plus I'm pretty artistic, so assumed he would share my interest too.

[melaine]

My son was drawing faces and people at two and then wasn't interested for a while, and yes, seemed to regress with his ability to draw faces etc (he started childcare at 3 and I have a folder full of scribbles from that first year).

Now he draws all the time (he turned 5 today - and all he wanted was a desk and art stuff).

My 3 year old DS is not interested in drawing - unless you count drawing on walls.

Don't worry about what he's drawing - just give him some opportunities for different creative things such as cutting, pasting, painting, finger painting, playdough, clay etc.

[glasnost]

My son is 4 and was quite into drawing for a while however is now much more interested in making things, particularly 3 dimensional things with boxes etc, doing lego etc so my first thoughts are that it is a boy thing.

Does he go to preschool/kindy? Maybe have a chat to his teacher?

[ekbaby]

Interesting, my 4yo son does not like to draw either, although he does now like to draw letters sometimes, and can write his name and some other letters, but still does not draw pictures except for scribble. I mentioned it to the GP at his checkup, and his occasional care centre. They both suggested encouraging him with different activities but in a fun way. At that time he wasn't writing either, now that he is using a pencil to draw letters I am less worried about the pictures.