More Than Meets the Eye: Camouflage Ants

On Saturday, I sat down with Jack, a pre-school student. He was deeply engaged, drawing in his sketchbook. Curious, I asked Jack to tell me what he was drawing. Little did I know the complexities behind Jack’s drawing, what seemed very similar to other children’s drawings I had seen. The image unfolded as an interesting narrative. He added another part of the drawing like a next chapter in a story. He added each piece of the drawing he had added with precision, with meaning. In the middle of the page were two insects, with three body parts and six legs. “Those are the ants”, he told me. Pointing to another part of the drawing, I asked “what’s that?” “The ants’ stingers, they are stinging the people.” Jack pointed to a few figures toward the top of the drawing. Jack also told me the ants were stinging the people because the people were trying to kill the ants. The people that Jack drew now seemed more animated. I expressed my worry for the ants, but Jack reassured me that the people can not kill the ants. “They’re turning camouflage” Jack said as he colored the ants with green. I wondered how he had learned about camouflage, and thought it was such a great solution to keep the ants from being killed by the people.

Jack is in a preschool Saturday art class that I co-teach. The class’s theme is the wonderful world of bugs. I wondered if the theme had encouraged Jack to draw insects and work out different things he knew about insects and people. The movie “A Bug’s Life” was also playing while he was drawing. Jack told me that it was his favorite movie when I asked. What Jack was drawing seemed to be a combination of context and personal interest.

I was engrossed with what Jack was telling me. I would have never understood what he was drawing if I had not talked with him, even if I had the drawing right in front of me. Now, after listening to Jack, his drawing has a completely different meaning to me. It was as if Jack opened up his imaginative world to me, and I had a glimpse of what it was like to be four again. Though I had seen before that children’s art means much more than you can tell by looking at it, I was still surprised by my experience with Jack. I really enjoyed listening to Jack, and found it exciting to find out the story Jack was telling in his drawing. I wonder if it was bad that I was surprised, that perhaps I was expecting less of preschoolers. As I talked with Jack, I also worried about the questions I asked and how I worded them. I wondered if I was saying too much.