Objects elicit attention in many everyday contexts, even from infancy. Objects also serve as the referents for humans’ earliest symbolic learning: language. In this talk, I’ll present my lab’s recent work with young children suggesting that objects are also prioritized in another early emerging and uniquely human symbolic expression: drawing. I’ll conclude my talk by suggesting that researchers interested in artificial intelligence may look for inspiration in human intelligence, especially when it comes to the way that humans attend to and represent objects.