The internet is divided on exactly which animal constitutes a kindergartener’s drawing, with guesses ranging from ducks and sea cucumbers to a polar bear.
When Arthur Kendrick’s 5-year-old son presented him with the artwork, the Texas native had no idea what the “beast” was supposed to be.
With a long green body, webbed feet and his son’s name “William” in bold, Kendrick didn’t know what to make of the unusual creature.
Sharing the artwork on Reddit’s sub r/Funny, he asked users, “Any guesses as to what animal my 5-year-old drew?”
Other Redditors had many suggestions, with the post garnering almost 50,000 upvotes and more than 10,000 comments.
The guesses have ranged from a frog to a “sea cucumber, but with style”. Arthur Kendrick “The feet are the only clue”
In 1947 Viktor Lowenfeld – a pioneer of art education theory – published Creative and Mental Growth. Believing that a child’s social, physical, intellectual, and creative growth is reflected in their artwork, the book contained his theory of the “stages of artistic development.”
According to Lowenfeld, children begin developing visual ideas between the ages of 4 and 6. At this point, children’s drawings represent what they feel is most relevant to the subject – so it’s not surprising if their depiction of a human or animal doesn’t correspond to reality.
Children at this age also have little sense of space, and color choices are more emotional than realistic.
It took Kendrick and his wife a while to figure out what William’s drawing represented, as the feet are “the only clue”.
He was also shocked by the reaction from Reddit users, who were desperate to know what animal it was supposed to be.
“I posted it before I went to bed and forgot about it by morning,” he told Newsweek.
“When I checked my Reddit account and had 8,000 messages, I was really confused for a minute.”
“I don’t know where the confusion comes from”
The editors’ guesses ran wild, with elus1vet pointing to plankton — the usually microscopic sea creatures made famous by SpongeBob SquarePants.
“DEFINITELY a frog,” said rawrc, while ConfidentGennel5258 thought the drawing was a dog.
Lunaris52 suspected a platypus and Bevybloom an iguana, but Tongue Twister described the creature as a “sea cucumber but with style”.
“I would say it’s really more of a pickle,” wrote erst77.
“Without question: The Prince of Wales,” said DickweedMcGee. “I thought it was a photo at first…”
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“Polar bear and pinned down,” commented Keeps-ittooreal, while WheresTheDonut suggested it was a “whale.”
Anonymouswallabee suspected a chameleon, but PsychoNerd92 said the answer was obviously a “William”.
“I don’t know where the confusion is coming from,” he said. “The boy labeled it and everything. From head to toe, this is a William.”
Unfortunately, there could only be one correct answer, with NurmGurpler correctly guessing a duck.
“He said he drew it because he said he wanted a pet duck,” Kendrick said.
“Chameleon was the best tip, and quite frankly probably the best tip, even if it was wrong, [but] Team Duck mastered the day.”
