"We don't carry coloring books," the salesclerk replies. "They are not really art, you know." She suggests a pad of newsprint paper and a box of crayons stead.

The mother looks puzzled. "But my son doesn't know how to draw yet. How can he learn if he doesn't have a coloring book?"

Alas, the mother was wrong on two counts. The simple truth is that 1) coloring books don't teach drawing, and 2) a child does not need to be taught how to draw; the ability develops as naturally as walking and talking.

Rhoda Kellogg, a foremost investigator of children's art, examined more than a million drawings produced over a period of twenty years by children of all economic and social groups in many parts of the world, and found a universal developmental sequence from scribbles to realism.

Developmental Stages-Drawing
1. A child can be given a pencil, crayon, or marker as soon as she no longer puts everything in her mouth. Her first markings are random scribbles, which she keeps repeating in an effort to master them. Watching the marks appear gives her pleasure.
2. One day (perhaps in her third year) she will make the breakthrough discovery that a particular scribble reminds her of something she knows. She may then give it a name and make it part of her repertoire by drawing the image deliberately over and over again. (Familiar examples are the round "face" or "sun" and the square "house.")
3. As the child becomes more skillful, she will not have to wait until the drawing is finished to discover what it is, but she will decide in advance what she wants to draw. Once a child's interest shifts from the physical activity to the picture she produces, scribbling usually ends.
4. A kindergartner can usually draw people and objects that are recognizable to adults, even though they may not be visually accurate. She begins to organize space with a base line on bottom (perhaps a green swath for grass) across which objects march in an orderly fashion.
5. The heyday of spontaneous explorations and discoveries will fade as the child strives for greater realism and works at refining her techniques.

Developmental Stages-Painting
1. Tentative strokes, usually unmixed and separated from each other.
2. Big patches of one or more colors.
3. Painting colors over one another, eventually ending in a brown mass that parents find ugly, but which is a forward step in the child's development.
4. Colors next to each other, then linear shapes, sometimes with solid color within shapes. When a shape reminds the child of something, she may develop it into a representational painting.

How Parents Can Help
Art educators recommend home art activities that encourage children to experiment with the qualities of each new material. They discourage copying, tracing, and using kits that require executing someone else's design.

The best thing parents can do is provide good materials, an orderly workplace, and supportive interest.

Muriel Silberstein-Storfer, who has been conducting parent-child workshops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1972, describes in her book "Doing Art Together" (1996 edition, Harry N. Abrams, at bookstores, or phone 1-800-345-1359 to order) how to set up a home workshop and choose appropriate materials and activities. She suggests:
1. Beginners should paint while seated at a flat table rather than standing at an easel. The reasons are a) it is difficult to control drips on an easel, and b) children who are standing are likely to become distracted and wander off.
2. Red, yellow, blue, black, and white are the only necessary colors. All other colors can be mixed from those. Starting out with a lot of ready-mixed colors deprives beginners of the basic experience of color-mixing.

Do's and Don'ts
Here are recommendations from other authorities:

Recommended Art Materials
Unless otherwise indicated the following products are available at art supply stores and catalogs that specialize in art materials for schools.

CRAYONS: Crayon quality is determined by how much wax can be scratched off the paper-the more wax, the poorer the crayon. The child will have to press so hard to get a good color that his fingers (and the resulting drawings) will become cramped. The smaller the child, the larger the crayons should be. Many authorities recommend pelling the paper and breaking every crayon to free the child from the inhibitions that result from trying to keep crayons new-looking.

These two brands require only a light touch. Prang Kantroll pressed crayons are flattened on one side to prevent rolling. Available for $3 from Dixon Ticonderoga online. Painting Wax Crayons produce the smoothest, richest color imaginable (Galt, 1-800-899-4258, about $5 at specialty toy stores). Older children can dip them in water and use them as paint sticks.

PAINT: Liquid tempera in 16-ounce squeeze bottles is available from school supply catalogs, teacher stores, and art stores. Some parents prefer powdered tempera because it can be mixed with water to the desired consistency (very thick for beginners) and last indefinitely. Either liquid or powder tempera can be mixed with a small amount of liquid dish soap to make clean up easy.

Other supplies needed are brushes (one-inch and two-inch short-bristled "brights"); cups to hold small amounts to paint; and newsprint or white paper, 18x24 inches.

Some Final Thoughts
Children's drawings express what they feel, not what they see; they should not be judged by adult standards. Things that adults consider "wrong" in children's art have been used effectively by great artists: wrong proportions (Modigliani, El Greco), lack of perspective (medieval artists), and lack of spatial orientation (Chagall).

The most important part of a child's artistic growth occurs during the process of creating. As Dr. Thomas A. Hatfield, Executive Director of the National Art Education Association, puts it, "Children need to experience art by exploring, making decisions, and solving problems. 'Canned stuff' designed by adults takes away the exploratory process and removes the creative experience."