Teaching Your Toddler to Draw a Straight Line
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A toddler’s first attempt at drawing is far from artful, but those fierce scribbles are what are going to help him reach toddler drawing milestones. Apart from being patient, there are a few things parents themselves can do to help them along the way.
Most toddlers are able to scribble at 12 to 13 months of age. By 18 to 20 months your toddler will have made progress from scribbling to drawing lines. While curved lines come easier to them, most toddlers universally struggle with drawing straight lines. Here is where parents can step in to help their kids find hand co-ordination by incorporating these fun straight line drawings tasks.
How to Teach Your Toddler to Draw a Straight line
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Let Them Follow You
Children are quick to imitate their parents’ actions. The best way, therefore, for making toddlers draw a straight line is by drawing one yourself and allowing them to follow you. The line may be anything but straight at first. Gradual practice will see straighter lines as you both keep at it. ||
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Connect the Dots
This is one of the most fun tasks to introduce when teaching your child line drawing. The dots aid in hand-eye coordination, which is an extremely important skill for a toddler to develop. To begin with you can draw a single set of dots on a piece of paper and have your toddler connect them. If need be, guide his hand to help him follow the pattern. Once he gets the hang of it you can gradually leave him to it.
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Introduce a Ruler
There’s nothing better than getting your toddler to drag his crayon or pencil along the outer line of a ruler when teaching toddlers to draw straight lines. This is the best practice when it comes to drawing straight lines. Allow your toddler to trace the line of the ruler while you hold it steady in place. This can be a bit tricky initially so holding their hand and guiding it would be the best way to start. The moment you find they are comfortable with this action you can let go.
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The Book Task
When looking for ways in developing straight line drawing skills in 20-month-old toddlers, another activity that is quite suited for the purpose is the book task. All you need is your toddler’s drawing book. Open the book to the middle page and have your little one run his colour pencil down the entire length of the inner central line, which holds the pages together. This makes for a good practice session and even allows the hand to get accustomed to linear movement.
Each child is unique and develops at their own pace. Parents, therefore, should never pressure their young one into achieving toddler drawing milestones. Drawing is a developmental skill that doesn’t necessarily follow a set timetable. So don’t fret if your child struggles with drawing lines and shapes while other children of his age have moved on to various stages of drawing.
