This article aims to explore the issues that face primary school teachers when responding to children's drawings. Assessment in art and design is an ongoing concern for teachers with limited experience and confidence in the area and, although children's drawings continue to be a focus of much research, the question of what it is that teachers say to young children that has a positive impact on the development of their drawing is under-explored. The article aims to identify the components of what constitutes children's competence in observational drawing through a detailed analysis of a drawing made by a 6-year-old child. Connections between the teaching of drawing and the teaching of literacy are highlighted, and the article concludes that children who are able make confident representations of the visual world are better placed to express their own ideas, thoughts and experiences through art. (Contains 8 figures and 1 note.)