WHY WE DON’T USE GRIDS AND FORMULAS IN OUR KIDS ART CLASSES:
At Sunshine Art School, we believe childhood should be honoured, not rushed- that’s why we don’t teach kids to copy using grids or formulas. We want children to draw what they feel, not just what they see.
The grid method is a tool for accurate copying. It trains the eye to replicate, but not to observe, interpret, or feel. It’s also very left-brained, breaking images into measurable parts and encouraging precision and analysis. While that might sound useful, it actually pulls children out of the imaginative, intuitive space they need at this age.
When children spend too much time measuring, aligning, and correcting, they can lose the joy, rhythm, and natural flow of creating.
DID YOU KNOW I HAVE A BACKGROUND IN STEINER/WALDORF EDUCATION AS WELL!
I’m sure many of you have picked up my Steiner influence in the kids classes- from the art we create and the natural materials we use, to the wonderful stories (filled with lessons about values) which I love telling the kids while they paint.
Its important to honor the inner world of the child, rather than rushing them into techniques that produce adult-looking results. This supports their natural stages of development, where joy, process, and expression come first — the rest will follow in time.