“Mat Man”: Reflective Practice

A Backstory

Much of my previous writing on this blog has had to do with my belief in the authentic beauty and magic of children’s drawings, with an emphasis on scribbling as a valuable form of expression and early written communication. As a kindergarten and now pre-k teacher, I don’t like to interfere too much in a student’s drawing process. I prefer to let children take the lead as they develop their drawing skills according to their own developmental stage and visual logic.

The Details

This year, I’m trying something a little bit different. In my school, we use components of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum for pre-k. The emphasis is on using a combination of big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves to learn how to write uppercase letters. There are big wooden pieces that children can use to practice forming the letters before writing them. For example, a big line and three little lines make the letter E. And a big line and a little curve make the letter P.

The wooden pieces can also be used to help children learn how to make a person called “Mat Man.” Mat Man can look lots of different ways, and the children can use loose parts to create facial features, hair, and even clothing. But to begin, they use two big curves for the head, a rectangular-shaped blue mat for the body, two big lines for the arms, two blue cutouts for the hands, two big lines for the legs, and two little lines for the feet.

Examples in Action

After exploring the parts and making Mat Man, the children can draw it using simple shapes and lines. For some four and five-year-olds, this is a comfortable exercise and easily accomplished. For others, it can feel challenging and even overwhelming. The goal is for each child to try and, after some repeated practice, begin to gain more confidence in drawing a person. Those who are able can eventually elaborate on their drawing with details like clothing, more precise facial features, and other interesting information that they want to show.

What’s Next

What is the value in “teaching” young children how to draw a person, even before they may start drawing figures on their own? In the past, I may have avoided this type of work out of a fear that I would be influencing them too much or sending the message that what they can draw on their own is not good enough or does not look like “something.” I still hold firmly to my belief that scribbles and approximations are valuable forms of mark-making, pre-writing, and visual-linguistic expression for our youngest writers. However, I am also sharing concrete tools like Mat Man to guide them in making their drawings of figures more “legible”-if they are ready to do so.

Introducing the concept of drawing simple lines and shapes and arranging them in ways that begin to represent recognizable forms is not telling children how to draw, but rather, giving them a scaffold and a system they can use as they work to communicate their ideas and stories through pictures. I’m excited to see where this work takes me and my students this school year.

If you have used Mat Man with your pre-k students, I would love to read about your experience in the comments.