Encouraging your child's talent for drawing is not as hard as it may seem. Most children like to draw and express themselves well and that expression should never be discouraged. Lots of paper, crayons, markers, paint, pencils and praise should be supplied they will do the rest.

Coloring books are fun but they do not teach children to draw. On the contrary they teach children to draw lines and see nothing else but lines. They try to keep within the lines and may be criticized if they don't and praised it they do. Lines become very important. Coloring books teach children that everything must have a line around it. They forget they can paint or draw red tulips against green grass without a line around them. Coloring books are often cartoons or drawings that are not well defined or over simplified and have no backgrounds. Coloring books encourage the child to stop seeing. If you must get coloring books try to find ones that have background and good drawings.

Some children like to express themselves drawing but they lose interest after a short while, the talented young artist will spend hours on end drawing pictures. He may have a natural ability to compose a pleasing composition, use color in an interesting way or be able to capture detail that others his age can't. The young artist may draw the same type things over and over because with little improvement because they don't know how to progress they get stuck doing what gets the most praise. Often the parents not being artist themselves don't know how to give constructive advice on how to improve what they are trying to draw.

A child may have an incredible sense of design and color that could be overlooked because this child doesn't use lines. They may not be encouraged because to the untrained eye the child's perception not outlined is not seen as talent or good drawing.

Lines without understanding of shapes and shadows, darkness and light are hollow and flat. The young artist knows this but does not know what to do about it. A child gifted in music is given structure but the young artist is not, she is left to figure it out by herself. They may have to wait until middle school or high school to get serious instruction. By then all they have mastered is lines. They will sometimes make at effort at shadows with smears, but it is not effective because they have forgotten how to see.

It you wish to protect your child's creativity and ability to draw you must encourage

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