## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Health and Physical Development (HPD)

#### Subdomain: Motor Development

#### Goal: Children develop small muscle control and hand-eye coordination to manipulate objects and work with tools.

#### Skill Progression: Drawing

#### Age: 24-27 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 24-27 Months.

### Experiments with different ways to draw and write, such as “magic” drawing boards, making impressions in sand, drawing on computer app. with finger, etc.

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child with paper and a crayon or marker, first spontaneously, then after watching an adult.

Elicitation Strategy

Give the child markers or crayons and paper on a small table, where the child can be stable and comfortably reach the paper. Let the child mark on the paper independently. The adult then models drawing a straight horizontal stroke, making a “road” or a “ziipp!” sound to interest the child in the movement.

Behavior Observed

After observing the adult make a straight line, the child imitates this action. Children prefer circular marks. They stabilize the paper with one hand and make marks with the other, moving their whole arm.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Encourage parents to give children a place and time to draw. Children will say their scribbles represent a drawing. Early childhood educators and parents can ask what the child is making and make their own drawing. Draw alongside of the child. Demonstrate how to make a horizontal line for a road, then drive a small car across the road. The child will want to make a road too. This type of imitation will prompt the child to try making different directional strokes.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.