Exploring a child's representations of the sea through drawings and narratives

Early engagement with marine sustainability in early childhood education and care (ECEC) can nurture ethical awareness, shared responsibility and a sense of ecological belonging. ECEC settings offer spaces where children explore environmental questions and begin to see themselves as active participants in ecological communities whose interpretations and experiences matter. Aligned with the aspirations of Sustainable Development Goal 14, which calls for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and marine resources, this paper situates children's drawings of the sea within contemporary debates that move beyond developmental framings. Focusing on one, six-year-old child's three interconnected drawings of the sea, this study reconceptualises drawing as a relational and multimodal act of meaning-making rather than a measure of knowledge acquisition. Drawing on social semiotic, socio-cultural and ecological theory, it examines how ecological understanding, emotion and imagination unfold in process. Data were generated through participatory, image-based methods in a Norwegian coastal ECEC setting and analysed using a reflexive thematic approach. Across the drawings, an evolving ecological narrative emerges in which interdependence, vulnerability and human disruption are explored across scale: from storms and food chains to obstruction, waste and cosmic disturbance. Power is depicted as relational and unstable; animals act and employ strategies, but remain vulnerable to environmental disruption. Human infrastructure and pollution are rendered morally consequential. Fantasy operates not as escapism but as a resource for engaging with environmental uncertainty. The study argues for recognising drawing as a dialogic space where ecological knowledge, affect and ethical positioning converge, enabling children to participate meaningfully in imagining sustainable futures.