| Author | |
LucyP
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 05 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 791
|
| Posted: May 13 2008 at 3:30am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Our son is 4y5m old. He cannot/will not colour in. I just asked him to colour in a picture of Jesus being baptised for his baptism notebook, and he started by wanting to colour the water orange. I suggested he try his new multi-shaded blue crayon, and let him get on with it. When I looked again, the water, Jesus and St JOhn the Baptist were all scribbled over in blue.
Is it normal for his age? Any ideas on helping him. It is so hard to do any activities with him as he can't read, can't write and apparently can't colour in either!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
guitarnan
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Maryland
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 10883
|
| Posted: May 13 2008 at 5:01am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Fine motor skills vary widely at this age, if I recall correctly. You might want to give him more activities that will develop these skills.
One activity all kids seem to love is to play with an eyedropper, water and a few small containers; they really enjoy filling the dropper and moving water from place to place. This really helps their fine motor control - and it's fun!
__________________
Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
CrunchyMom
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 03 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6385
|
| Posted: May 13 2008 at 6:32am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I think that the whole wanting to color it the color you like instead of realistically is completely normal. My brother has severe cerebral palsy and of course struggle with fine motor skills. It took a lot of concentration at that age to try and color in anything. He would get sad faces on his work in kindergarten because people's hair isn't really green! It made me very angry (and I was only in the 4th grade) because I just don't think that strict realism is the point at that age. They know water is blue, yk?
My almost four year old is super independent. In everything, he wants to take the initiative himself. Sometimes, even if my suggestion is very gentle, he will almost resent that I intruded on his coloring and do something like what you described--or just color the entire picture the same color. Other times, he just isn't in the mood to be detail oriented.
He has excellent motor skills and has been coloring inside the lines since 2 1/2, and he has colored some very intricate pictures lots of different colors. But sometimes, he just isn't in the mood and just makes the entire picture the same color.
So, ime, it could be a motor skills issue, and activities that strengthen that are often enjoyable and worth pursuing, but it could also just be that he's four and wanted to color the water orange that day.
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mary G
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5790
|
| Posted: May 13 2008 at 8:28am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I don't know if it's normal  , but my now 9yo son was just like this .... he wouldn't color in when he was 4 or 5 because it never looked right to him and he'd end up just scribbling ... I just backed off and did other ways (like just putting the picture in his notebook uncolored) and got on with it ... giving him every opportunity but not forcing it and he now colors nicely (if a bit over-meticulous  ) -- one of my stories for why hs'ing is better as he probably would have been "branded" in pre-K/K for not coloring!
As far as the odd color coloring, you might see if he can sort by color or if he can't distinguish colors -- boys can be color-blind and this might be part of the problem (but I don't know anything about that, just a suggestion).
__________________
MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Lara Sauer
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 15 2007
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 679
|
| Posted: May 13 2008 at 8:39am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I must say that I would be much more shocked if your post had said that your 4 year old son had colored in the page "correctly!" (As if that assessment can even be made!)
One neat project to do with your child is to divide a piece of paper into 4 squares and in each square have him draw the picture of a house, a face, a tree and a person. Don't correct anything. In about 3 months, without showing him the other picture have him do the same series of pictures...repeat again in about 3 more months.
What you should gradually notice is their growing ability to pay attention to detail. Maybe the first face only had eyes and a mouth, but by the third or fourth picture in the series, you might start to see ears, noses, teeth and hair.
__________________
You can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but you can't take the Wisconsin out of the girl!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lapazfarm
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 21 2005
Location: Alaska
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6082
|
| Posted: May 13 2008 at 10:49am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Totally sounds like my 4.5 yo grandson. He is just now getting it.
__________________
Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
LucyP
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 05 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 791
|
| Posted: May 13 2008 at 12:10pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Lol! Thanks for your wisdom and calm words, ladies. I just am so used to him being "odd" and oppositional that I forget he can also just be four!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: COlouring in: is this normal?
