Responding to Children's Artwork

Sometimes I find myself in a rut of responding to children’s artwork with “Oh, that’s pretty!” Do you catch yourself doing that too? How boring it must be to hear that again and again! Asking “What is it?” implies that what they created must represent something but the child may have been exploring a media or expressing a mood. When we make more specific comments, we let children know we are really looking at the picture, and not judging it. Try these:

“Is there a story that goes with your picture?”
“You made some interesting color combinations with the paint.”
“Can you show me a red line?” (Describe what you see in the artwork.)
“Where would you like your name?” (Spell it aloud as you print.)
“These shapes must have been tricky to make.”
“How do the curvy lines make you feel?”
“You worked really hard to cover the whole paper.”