The Circle Head Body - On The Job Learning

         
    Addressing  a child’s drawing deficit can be challenging, especially when the human body is the subject. The human figure can be difficult for some students to draw.  Recently, in a kindergarten class, the familiar circle with four lines representing the human figure showed up.  Some children draw a circle head with four lines protruding out from the circle representing the appendages.  The body is obviously missing.  They may have difficulty drawing a shape for the body or perhaps they are not aware of their torso.  Regardless of the reason, drawing the body accurately is beyond their skill set.  They have not realized that arms and legs do not emanate from the head.  Usually I just ask the child to make certain the body is drawn correctly and have them check that the entire body is present.  Most of the time the student is unable to conclude that the body is missing. 
    This time I tried something different.  I asked them (two students in this class) to observe their own body.  And pointing to their head I said, "Do your arms come out of your head?"  Addressing their picture I asked them to look where the arms stick out of the head.  Is this where the arms belong or do the arms come out of the body, which is below the head?  By using this practical approach the students, at least this time were able to comprehend that their drawings needed a body and they made the appropriate changes.  I will continue to use this approach with students who draw circle head bodies.  With it I know they can achieve a more accurate rendering of the human form.  


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