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- 3-7 years
- 7-12 years
For the most part, children love to draw. For them, this is one of the few ways to express their own thoughts. Often kids don’t even know how to speak properly, but they already enjoy getting dirty with paint and creating their own masterpieces that only they can understand. Each children's drawing is endowed with a huge number of symbols. For every detail drawn, you can say a lot about the child’s inner world, his feelings and ideas about the world around him. But mood and feelings are most clearly visible in the use of colors. Preference for one color or another is a diagnostic parameter and is used in professional psychological diagnostics. One of the most famous color tests is the Luscher test. We will not reveal the intricacies of color psychodiagnostics, but we bring to your attention a fairly simple color analysis of children's drawings of preschoolers and primary schoolchildren.
Green color
Color speaks of the mind and intelligence of a child who tries to find an explanation for all events and phenomena. Why color? Such children are interested in intellectual and logical games, crosswords, and puzzles. They have a tendency to boss others around. They strive to achieve their goal. Children who choose green, as a rule, are not afraid of new surroundings. Sometimes they are touchy. It is important for parents to teach such children to express their emotions, to be open, and to show more affection towards them.
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As you can see, by studying the psychology of color, you can carefully influence the child’s psyche and mood. Some shades calm and relax, others invigorate and give strength. When choosing a color, be guided by the temperament and character of the children, and also take into account their biorhythms and condition at a particular moment in time.
For example, in the morning we all lack energy. Serving your baby breakfast on an orange plate will give him energy for the day ahead. But in the evening it is better to listen to fairy tales, wrapped in a soft green blanket.
For walks on a gloomy autumn day, wear boots and a raincoat in rich colors. These clothes will lift your spirits. And when choosing pajamas, give preference to calm tones.
It is better to decorate the room of energetic fidgets in neutral colors. Bright accents in the interior will help those who are shy and less active to relax.
Now you are armed with knowledge, but do not forget to rely not only on theory, but also on the baby’s preferences. After all, the main thing is that you like the color and please the eye.
When to start worrying
Of course, sometimes children use black as an expression of their attitude to what is happening in the family, in kindergarten or at school. If they see the aggression of the environment, hear screams, receive an accidental or special blow, suffer bullying, they may well have negative thoughts that for some reason they do not want to talk about, but at the same time they can express them in drawings.
You need to ask the children around him, the parents of these children, educators, teachers and other adults about the child’s behavior at a time when his parents do not see him. When certain problems are identified, they need to be solved, independently or with specialist psychologists. If everything is calm, the family lives in love and harmony, the child is sociable and friendly with other kids, then there is no reason to worry, and you just need to give the baby the opportunity to choose the colors that he likes.
Show of power
Children intuitively use creativity as self-therapy, and it is important that they have this opportunity. If a child chooses a color, it means he needs to be imbued with the energy of that color. When a boy prefers black paint, it may indicate that he wants to try his strength. This is not a desire for destruction, but a need to experience the feeling “I am strong, I can.” It can be difficult for mothers to deal with the manifestation of children's strength, but it is important for the child to feel it.
With the help of strong colors, a child can free himself from strong emotions - such as fear or anger. A boy or girl can choose black to represent something they consider important.
Art therapy helps you relax, find yourself and get rid of fears Read more
Unconsciously
It happens that at some point small children - usually boys - begin to color their drawings mostly in black. This scares parents, especially mothers. For adults, this color is associated with certain cultural concepts that are incompatible with childhood: either mourning or something dark and scary. But young children still lack the baggage of cultural associations and perceive colors unconsciously, on a deeper energetic level.
In ancient Chinese symbolism, black is the color of the all-consuming energy of water. This is a very strong color. Even if you just start painting with black paint, it’s easy to see how much power it has: it can interrupt and absorb any other color. It is also very contrasting, and by drawing on a white sheet of paper, you can make any image clear and noticeable, and therefore give it greater significance.
Interesting
In drawing classes, adults often note that when they paint with black, they feel joy and the power of boldness. Color therapists recommend that people wear black in moments of weakness and vulnerability to give themselves strength and confidence.
Why does a child paint only with black paints and dark colors: answers from a psychologist
To draw conclusions about whether a child paints with dark colors due to psychological trauma or simply because he wants to, you need to examine a number of questions. Some exaggerate too much, focusing on the child’s impending depression, which makes parents worry even more.
Fortunately, there are several quite adequate theories about the use of black in creativity, which are used by conscious mothers and fathers.
- The simplest and most common reason for drawing in black is that the child likes the contrast of black and white in front of his eyes. Contours, blots, large silhouettes - all this interests him very much and he likes to create this contrast with his own hands. “If you want to test your child’s love for contrast and clarity, then just give him BLACK paper and WHITE paints” - this is what psychologists advise especially anxious parents. The result will be the same - the baby will draw with pleasure, almost not noticing the difference.
- The second reason why a child may prefer dark colors is the feeling of an upcoming illness (for example, a cold). Thus, the baby unconsciously tries to express his condition. Gray and black colors are often associated with illness; the onset of illness provokes the child to use dirty colors and rough strokes.
- The third reason is as harmless as the first - the weather affects the child. Outside the window there is rain, thunderstorm, slush - even an adult cannot and does not want to think positively when seeing this. This is how gloomy drawings appear on paper. Clouds, lightning, black earth, black people can be drawn.
What colors does your child choose?
- The next reason is that the child is influenced by the atmosphere in the house. He observes the behavior of his parents, feels the tension and quarrels between mom and dad. He becomes uncomfortable and sad, the baby begins to show it on paper. It’s worth taking a closer look at his drawings and reconsidering your relationship with your other half. The child sees everything, takes it personally, and this makes it hard for him. All cargo is received on paper in the form of drawings.
- Another reason is that with the help of black the child shows his strength and significance - “Look how I can. “Everyone over there is painting flowers, but I’m drawing a beautiful, clear picture, black and white.” To us adults, this may seem funny, but the child expresses himself the way he knows how.
- If you know what this love for black and its shades may be connected with, and this information gives you a real reason to worry about your baby, don’t delay, go to the specialists.
As you can see, there are more than enough reasons why a child or teenager chooses black. Most often, these reasons do not carry any negative message, but sometimes it happens differently. Communicate with your children, build trusting relationships with them, and then you will learn about all their problems from them, and not from drawings.
Why does the child like, the child likes the color black?
If you notice that your child is very interested in the color black (clothes, toys, pencils and other accessories to which he has access), then do not immediately panic - there is nothing wrong with that.
- The reason is that your son or daughter simply likes this color. Being at a very early age, children still cannot really express their attitude towards the world, so they cling to everything that can attract their attention. In this case, it is black.
- As far as we can tell, even without being artists, this color is very rich and deep. For many, it is pleasing to the eye. Black things themselves stand out against the general background of our world. They contrast with cheerful and bright colors, which makes them even clearer.
- Little children are just learning about this world with all its colors, they want to distinguish between this and that. And even if they cling to such a gloomy, according to some, black color, this does not always mean that they experience some kind of negative emotions.
- Yes, most often the color black is associated with stress, depression, and possibly depression. It is considered so because this color is overwhelming, all-consuming. Even if you mix the brightest colors together, you will still get black, any artist will tell you that.
- The perception of black color depends on the internal state of the person himself. Someone, seeing that his child is dragging a black toy with a joyful squeal and asking to buy it, will be horrified - “What’s wrong with my sunshine? Why black? This is so dark! We urgently need to run to a psychologist, we have problems! Where did I take a wrong turn with my upbringing?”
Child's choice of black
- From the outside it most often looks very comical. Black is not always bad. This is a very contrasting color and children can most often notice black things against the background of others that shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. But their parents push these bright things on them every day, and they get tired of it. And here there is such variety - a black toy/sweater/hairpin! You definitely need to explore this, it’s unusual, it’s something new!
- Thus, young children can single out some black objects from the general “herd”, considering them unique and different from others. It follows from this that this is a simple interest in something new and unknown that so rarely catches the eye.
- If your child looks absolutely normal from the outside, but at the same time is very interested in the color black, you don’t need to immediately try to find the reason.
- There is a chance that all your relatives and friends will unanimously shout to you that something is definitely wrong with your child, he is strange for choosing such a horror. This is your advice – what do YOU think? Take a closer look - the child plays calmly, eats well, communicates with peers. Nothing suspicious except this hated color.
- Accordingly, there is no reason to panic. The child simply chose what he likes, perhaps he just wants to stand out. No matter how much strangers press you, you shouldn’t follow their lead. You just need to take a close look at your child. More often than not, “advisers” are simply making noise because your child is thus different from their children or from themselves at the same age. And this is already a mess, in their opinion. But there are so many people, so many opinions.
- You shouldn’t adapt to other people’s opinions - in most cases, everything is fine with your child. He is just trying to show his individuality and interest in something that is not like the mainstream. Even at such a young age, this feeling is already present.
- In this case, you should not focus the child’s attention on this moment. “Do you like black? Here, please, choose something of this color, I don’t mind at all” - this is how you should behave in this case. It is very important to listen to your child's wishes. He evaluates this as respect for his person. And perhaps he also considers this passion for the color black to be part of himself.
The simplest color therapy options for home
Let the child choose the color of his clothes.
The baby can also have a say in choosing the color of the children's room and children's furniture. The same goes for the decoration colors with which he wants to surround himself.
Food colors: Children love colorful salads or vegetables. You can combine food with as many colorful ingredients as possible: for example, in the form of a salad.
Colorful Bath Products: All-natural baby bath products are suitable for children aged three and up. They usually like brightly colored water.
Drawing and finger painting: Suitable for children aged two years and older.
Gemstone Therapy: The healing energies of minerals are also associated with specific color vibrations. Precious stones can be intuitively selected by color and placed as room decor. Children love beautiful and bright pebbles.
But the best option for working with color is the design of a children's room.
Children often, unlike their parents, love bright colors in their bedrooms. They react especially strongly to the basic ones: red, green, blue and yellow. Depending on the child’s temperament, preference is given to certain colors: lively children prefer yellow, orange and red, and calmer children prefer blue and green. However, colors can also be used to compensate for such personality traits and the design can be tailored accordingly.
Choice despite the environment
Another reason for choosing black color over all others is actions against the environment. This can begin with the crisis of 3 years, when negativism and denial first appear, and continue almost until adolescence. And for some, such manifestations generally remain for the rest of their lives.
Here the following mechanism of action is triggered in children: “I’ll choose the color that annoys the teacher the most,” “I’ll take black because mom doesn’t like it,” “Everyone will be surprised: everyone is dressed up, but I’m in black!” Sometimes it is precisely such thoughts that then lead teenagers to the appearance inherent in informals, even if they do not agree with them on other issues.
A child chooses black for drawing: what does this mean in psychology?
It is widely believed that if a child draws with such a gloomy color as black (and sometimes complementing it with shades of gray), then he has problems on a psychological level. Is it so? Unfortunately, most psychologists say exactly this, which makes many parents worry. And some psychologists simply do not tell the nuances of such a child’s choice, although they know that there is nothing wrong with this at a certain age.
If your baby decides to draw and chooses black for this, don’t worry and come up with a ton of non-existent problems:
- Firstly, until the age of 4, a child chooses a color unconsciously. He perceives it only visually, without thinking about its meaning. The child sees white paper in front of him. Accordingly, this “whiteness” needs to be diluted. Dilute with something that, on the contrary, is very dark, that will stand out. And so the child chooses what? That's right, black.
- The contrast couldn't be stronger, the lines are clear and he likes to look at it. He creates something unusual with his own hands and sees a good result - clarity and brevity. He likes it better this way and it’s better not to challenge his little decision. If you start swearing or explaining that this is not possible, the child will be offended and may abandon the matter altogether. And drawing develops imagination and hand motor skills very well, don’t forget about it.
- Also, black color is very popular among teenagers (from 14 years old). Then the situation becomes twofold.
Child draws in black
- On the one hand, since he is a teenager, by wearing black he begins to express a real protest to society, showing his uniqueness in a more radical way. He can paint pictures in which there is nothing but black.
- In this case, parents may misunderstand this and think that their precious child is upset about something or is feeling unwell. Visits to a psychologist can only aggravate the situation; this is a banal self-expression (which we can observe in a small child).
- On the other hand, at this age teenagers very often face a number of difficulties (communication with parents, misunderstanding in the family, relationships with peers, first love, etc.). And the black color in this case shows real aggression or, on the contrary, powerlessness. If a son or daughter becomes withdrawn, uses only dark colors in their work, or behaves aloofly, this is where you should worry. Perhaps you should look at your family from the outside and understand what made the child become so gloomy.
- In any case, if your child prefers dark colors, you just need to find a reason for this.
As mentioned above, most often a small child chooses such colors and shades not because he has some kind of psychological problem or trauma, but because he simply likes it. Despite this, you should not ignore such self-expression of your child.
It will be useful for you to know that black color in psychology is:
- In psychology, this color is considered critical and unacceptable for young children.
- If the baby always makes a choice in favor of black, then this may indicate previously experienced stress and that the child is in fear. Unfortunately, many parents mistakenly think that they know absolutely everything about their children’s lives, but in practice everything turns out completely differently. That is why, if your child is aged 7-14 years, that is, from the moment he went to school and became relatively independent and at the same time always gives preference to this color in everything, you need to take a close look at it.
- Perhaps he has problems at school, perhaps he is bullied, but he does not tell you, perhaps the reason lies even in relationships within the family - you, as a caring and loving parent, are obliged to find out and help your child.
- You really need to be concerned about the child’s condition when, after experiencing any psychological trauma, the child begins to paint everything only in black. This means nothing more than that the little man is in despair and depression. In this case, you need to urgently seek help from specialists.