CHILDREN CREATE ART THROUGH SCRIBBLES- Dr. ZAINAB UMAR

Every stroke drawn by a child is a work of art.
This is how expressions by little children, should be viewed by parents and handlers and not as rubbish or “jogolo jogolo” in the Nigerian parlance.
This is the key message reverberating from the installation lecture, delivered by Academic and creative artist, Dr. Zainab Umar, on Preschool Children’s Direct Scribbles, at the Jibril Aminu hall, Federal College of Education FCE Yola.

The lecture, focused on “Preschool Children’s Direct Scribbles as a Source for Generating Textile Motifs and Patterns for Fabric Decoration,” aimed to exchange academic ideas and highlight the importance of children’s artistic expression.
Dr. Zainab Husaina Umar, the first woman to present an installation lecture at the Federal College of Education FCE Yola, explained the concept of art in the life of pre-school children and how critical this is, in child development.
“The pre-school direct scribbles are not just mere mark makings of the child, but a source for generating motifs, pictures, patterns in textiles and other design areas
Regardless of where the child was brought up, or schooled, scribbling and mark making or image are part of children’s activity”

She stressed that children try to depict that which happens around them in drawings and everyone needs to be observant and careful.
“We have developmental stages in art education
The first one is civil which is 2 to 5 years that is the first drawing of the child, them
We have Pre-schematic which 5 to 7 years a child’s first representational attempt
Then the schematic 7 to 9 years, here it is characterized by demonstration of skills and X-ray pictures and a lot of the pictures of the children, actually tell us what is happening around them”

She humorously quipped, that parents should not care for their cars and walls more than the children, but encourage children to express themselves though art, as it was a developmental stage.

“if you have seen a scribble in your house,  or your furniture, just clap for yourself, if you have not seen one,  from this lecture, may you begin to see them on your cars, your furniture”

While many parents may not support children using any and every object, to make inscriptions on cars and valuables, the key position at this stage is one of understanding and guiding the children rightly when they make scribbles that come at a cost to parents.