Children use mark making as a means to explore their emotions and make meaning of their experience. Mark making can give children the power to express feelings that they would otherwise be unable to express.
Bringing playfulness to mark making helps to move us all away from the outcome-driven idea of “writing letters” before a child is ready for it. It is important to let children explore mark making with freedom and without pressure. Scribbling is not just for “babies.” Scribbling is for everyone!
How to Introduce Mr. Marker
This is one of Sally Haughey’s favorite first explorations to introduce the many different ways a marker can mark a page. This can be used with any marking tool.
Begin by demonstrating to the children how they can take Mr. Marker for a walk.
“Mr. Marker is walking slowly aaaall around your paper. Now he is walking fast. Faster. Faster! Oh no. He STOPPED! Now he is running in circles. He is tired. He lies down. Wake up! Mr. Marker jumps up and makes a dot. Jump and dot! Jump and dot. Mr. Marker makes a short line and stops.“
The stories you will hear about Mr. Marker’s walk are priceless!
Book Recommendations
A wonderful book about line and scribble and their differences.
A great book to talk about how we each have our own way of creating art. Permission to scribble!
