Mastering new skills: art

I've held off on introducing coloring to the Baby Beast, mainly because I don't want to encourage the ham-fisted attempt most kids use when learning to use a crayon. Luckily, he is very willing to mimic once I model how to do something, and we dived right in to his first "art project."

(a note on modeling: this is a Montessori concept. you demonstrate how to do something correctly, then sit back and allow your baby or child to do it as close to correct as they can. the demonstration is not the set-in-stone way of doing it; the demonstration is merely meant to give the infant/child a clear, hesitation-free way to accomplish a task. everyone does things differently. i still don't use scissors the 'correct' way [i was self-taught] but i manage to cut things just fine, despite the odd looks i get from people when they see me holding scissors)



I offered him only two crayons for this first experiment, since I could see him getting lost in the fun of taking crayons out of and putting them back into the box over and over.

I understood the importance of letting him do his own thing, so I mostly sat back and took pictures, only stepping in to correct his grip occasionally, or to stop him from trying the crayons out on non-approved surfaces (like the curtains or a dog's face). He ended up holding both crayons most of the time, one in each hand, although he's showing a definite peference for his right hand as the dominant one.



Other than him trying to eat the crayons every time I stopped paying close attention, I would say that this first experiment went quite well. The only real hitch is my old problem of saying "crowns" instead of "crayons." I'm working on getting it right, at least when speaking to the BB. I may be screwing him up on accident (as i've been told before), but I'm certainly going to try to avoid doing it deliberately.