How to Look at Your Child’s Artwork

A Tip for Parents at the End of Our Art Lab Season

As we arrive at the end of another beautiful 14-week season at Art Lab Amsterdam, something special is about to happen: your children will take their sketchbooks home.

These sketchbooks are not portfolios of “finished” art. They are living journals — full of experiments, risks, questions, silly moments, brave marks, quiet reflections, bright colors, smudges, unexpected turns, and discoveries. They hold a season of creative growth, emotional expression, and learning. And above all, they show the unique inner world of your child.

This year, I’d love to invite you into a way of looking at your child’s sketchbook: with curiosity, openness, and celebration of experimentation.

The Talent Trap — and Why We Avoid It at Art Lab

As adults, we’re conditioned to look for talent, promise, or measurable skills. We live in a world that quickly asks children to specialize, achieve, and fit into forms that make sense to us.

But in the realm of creativity — especially for young children — this “talent trap” can unintentionally close doors.

At Art Lab, one of my core pillars is protecting a safe space for experimentation, because experimentation is where true creativity lives. Children are naturally inventive; they come into the world overflowing with ideas and openness. Over time, social pressures, comparison, and fear of making mistakes can dim that spark. In the studio, we work to keep it alive.

When children feel free to experiment, they develop skills far more valuable than being “good” at drawing:

• courage

• flexibility

• emotional awareness

• problem-solving

• curiosity

• confidence

• imagination

These are the foundations of creativity that stay with them for life.

A Beautiful Example: Inside-Out Drawing

One of my favorite exercises to teach this is our inside-out drawing practice. The children close their eyes, take a breath, and tune in to where an emotion — like happiness — lives inside their bodies. Then they draw it.

When we open our eyes, it is astonishing to see how different happiness looks from one child to another. One page may be full of swirling yellow. Another may show tiny dots like sprinkling rain. Another might hold bold red lightning or a soft blue cloud.

And every single drawing is true. Every single drawing belongs.

This is the kind of creativity I hope parents will learn to see and celebrate.

How to Explore Your Child’s Sketchbook Together

When your child brings home their sketchbook, try approaching it with:

1. Curiosity, not conclusions

Instead of saying, “Oh, what is this?” or “Is that a cat?”, try:

• “Tell me about what you were exploring here.”

• “What were you feeling when you made this?”

• “What part did you enjoy the most?”

Let your child guide you. You might hear a story or a surprising insight that opens a window into their inner world.

2. Appreciation, not evaluation

Rather than good, bad, better, messy, or neat, try reflecting what you genuinely see or feel:

• “This color feels so warm.”

• “I love how free these lines are.”

• “This makes me feel calm.”

• “I can see you were experimenting with shape here.”

This reinforces that art is about expression, not correctness.

3. Valuing the attempts, not just the results

In Art Lab, I often encourage children not to tear pages out — even the ones they feel “didn’t work.” Those pages are gold. They show bravery, process, thinking, play, and evolution. A sketchbook full of experiments is a sketchbook full of growth.

Try saying:

• “I love seeing all the steps you tried.”

• “This page shows such interesting thinking.”

Your child will feel seen for their effort, not only their outcomes.

4. Seeing Instincts & Emerging Interests

As you turn the pages, you may notice:

• a repeated color

• a recurring symbol

• an emerging technique

• a fascination with nature, patterns, animals, stories, or textures

• a growing sense of composition or storytelling

These are not predictions of a career — they are simply seeds. Let them be what they are: glimpses into your child’s way of seeing the world.

Why This Matters

Children thrive when adults truly see them. When we show genuine curiosity about their ideas — rather than judging or defining them — we give them the courage to explore, make mistakes, and discover who they are.

At Art Lab Amsterdam, my mission is to create a warm, mindful, globally inspired space where children stay connected to their imagination, their emotions, and their sense of wonder. Their sketchbooks are a tangible record of that journey.

My hope is that this blog helps you step into that journey with them.

A Warm Invitation

When you come to the end-of-season celebration, I encourage you to sit beside your child, open their sketchbook together, and let curiosity guide your conversation. Celebrate the bravery of their experiments. Let them tell you what they were learning, feeling, discovering, or imagining.

It is such a gift for them — and for you.

Some of my students enjoy the number of sketchbooks they have collected over the years of following my classes. They become a wonderful archive of their development!

And if you ever have questions about the work in their sketchbook or the philosophy behind my lessons, I am always happy to talk with you.