The Trees that Children Paint

Children start drawing dots, lines, then curved lines,
before they are able to draw a circle.

Do children also go through similar developmental
milestones in painting trees?

What I've observed to be amazing is that the children
I've worked with in my classes, have painted trees with the same elements. They are aged 8 and 9, they do not know each other
and they painted these trees in separate classes.

Here are the trees that all have branches sticking out of the trunk.
The nine year-olds painted trees with a home for woodpeckers.

I really wonder why.

•••

During another lesson on painting trees,
a child once again sketched a tree trunk with a round top
and branches sticking out of the trunk.
I decided to tell the child that trees don't always
have to be painted in a daytime setting
and that trees don't always have to be painted
with a round green top.

I then left her to paint.

I was happy that she painted something different.