Creative Development: Ages 3-5

At preschool age, your child’s creative expression is increasingly purposeful and nuanced. Here are some of the ways you'll see her skills developing:

1. Discover that she can place blocks or make marks on paper in a way that represents an object’s features.
2. Draw recognizable shapes, such as circles, ovals, rectangles, triangles, crosses, and combinations of these shapes.
3. Begin creating with a specific intention — wanting to draw a man or build a firehouse.
4. Acquire a sense of ownership of his creations.
5. Attempt to use graphic symbols to represent objects.
6. Respond to an accidental slip of the marker or drips from the brush by incorporating them into the story or the drawing: “Then it began to rain — see the drops of purple rain? Then ...”
7. Visually represent particular emotions, such as joy, sadness, and anger.