On Algorithms and Children
I hugely enjoy watching our children as they play trying to understand their mind a bit better. One thing that is absolutely certain is that small children do not think in any way as teenagers or grown-ups. They have a unique way of solving problems and analyzing situations that is just beyond parent comprehension. I have taken a stab at it nonetheless.
Taking my three year old daughter, Liv, my first observation is that she thinks very much in patterns. One example of this came today as she was drawing a bit. It was immediately obvious to me that she was following a very strict algorithm. I shall present it in full.
1. Draw a line. For a general three year old this will look something like:
2. Continue the line until you accidentally (or intentionally?) create a loop. If you don’t create a loop go back to 1.
3. Start filling the loop (making it to some measure “opaque”) by drawing small loops inside it. These small loops will at times spill outside the loop they are supposed to fill. In these cases you must also fill the new loop.
4. End or go to 1.
The end result of the above example could be:
Real World Examples
Liv drew the following today. I can’t help to find some fractal beauty behind it… Or maybe I am bit biased 
When Liv left the drawing her little brother Lauge was eager to “help” her finish the details… A true Connaisseur d’Art may notice the subtle change in brush handling. Lauge is 1½ years old.
This concludes my thesis on algorithms and children. Thanks for reading.
Tags: algorithms, child drawings, children, drawings, painting
January 5th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I’m not an art expert… but the first one is at least interesting (although I don’t quite follow few lines).
January 5th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Looks like the British Isles… Liv drew Britain and Lauge drew Ireland.
January 6th, 2009 at 4:48 am
@danw: I was in fact thinking Great Britain too
I think maybe Lauge drew all the air lines in the British air space … Impressive to do that by memory.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:48 am
interesting… my 2 1/2 yr old boy loves to draw on one of those, but will not draw more than a few lines without operating the slider bar at the bottom.
He also loves other people drawing for him, but will wait only just long enough to recognise the drawing (thomas! cat! etc) before operating the slider.
This behaviour pattern leads to to believe he will be a vi user, and the twitch to strike the ESC key is already forming
January 6th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
My 2.25 yr old son does the same thing as aka’s son. Just about as soon as he figures out what you’re drawing for him, wham! goes the slider. Also, he requests things be drawn for him, and if they aren’t particularly well done he’ll say “No” rather curtly and operate the slider.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Your article is very interesting and perhaps people should study this a little more.
Maybe the random lines aren’t so random after all?? You truely think out-of-the box!
-Bri the Eye
http://www.todayyoudie.com