Childrens Drawings Step by Step Essay Example For Students

Childrens Drawings: Step by Step Essay N,R. Smith (1973) believes that the child begins the drawing with no intention or symbolization, but as the drawing progresses a pattern is made and the child sees a representation and then proceeds to make the rest tooth drawing shift towards this representation and builds on that. The basic pattern of childrens development to drawings begins at scribbles which appear from 12 months. The scribbles are non-representational and just involve the progressive control of movement. These scribbles tend to be viewed as gestures rather than drawing in true sense of the world according to Viscosity. Rancher (1956) believes that the earliest scribbles are a motor impulse, this simply means the child has no intention to draw a representation of an object or event it is just a coincidence. They begin to progress from 20 months of age where the scribbles being to become representational and the marks stand for whole objects. Cognitive psychologists tend to search these scribbles for visual resemblance where they attempt to make some sense Of it. There is Often some intended meaning within the scribbles, for example dots representing foot prints but not true representation. Symbolic pictures Start to appear around 3 years Of age where children begin to understand that pictures represent objects and begin to start drawing simple pictures Of people. Over time more realistic pictures are drawn round 5/6 years old and at 6/7 years old children begin to use size, position and composition to show depth, those of which allow more natural representations of the real world and tend to have a more significant meaning. Liquate (1927) and later on Pigged ; Inhaler (1969) invented the Stage Theory of Drawing, This is the belief that drawings are external representations of the childs internal model which is their mental picture. The stage theory consists of four stages. The first stage is fortuitous realism which occurs at 18-2. 5 years old and consists to labeling objects in scribbles. The second stage is tailed realism (2/5-5 years old), representational intention but tends to be inaccurate. The third stage being intellectual realism (5-8 years old), drawing what the child knows rather than what they see and the fourth stage, visual realism which is beyond 8 years old which is where the child actually draws what they see. There has been evidence to back up the stage theory, for example Freeman gamma; Kinkajou (1972) conducted a study in 1972 on 5-7 year olds. They were asked to draw a mug in front Of them Which had the handle out Of view. Results found that under year olds who would be in the intellectual stage drew the mug which included the hidden parts as they would be drawing What they knew, whereas the 8 year olds and over who would be in the Visual stage drew only what they could see. However the Stage theory has been criticized for the stages being too rigid leading to underestimating the childs ability. Barrett. Beaumont ; Jennet (1985) also found that instructions can have an impact on the childs drawing. They found that if children were given standard instructions, i. E. Just telling them to draw what they can see, only 11% of drawings would be correct whereas if hey were given explicit instructions, i. E. Draw exactly what they can see and look at it very carefully in order to draw it as you see, 65% of drawings were correct. It is also argue that the stage theory can vary over different cultures. The human figure is a drawing particularly investigated as it is regarded to be a way in which children express something about themselves. Researchers believe they can explain a childs personality and their current emotional state. Tests were created to investigate this, for example the Kinetic Family Drawings Test claimed o measure how children felt about the topics in the drawing and their wider environment. Drawing on Debates in Leisure and Sport Theory EssayHowever Burrito (2003) criticized this and argued that when a child uses a dark color it may not necessarily mean they are expressing a negative attitude, it could simply be that the child favors this color and they want to express this in their drawing y using their favorite color _ The things that children may not be able to tell themselves can often be found through interpretations and observations Of their drawings Of graphic symbols. Previous research found the main and clearest signs found in drawings are over sized ears without earrings which could suggest the child is experiencing some sort of verbal abuse in their life, big hands in a drawing suggest that the child is experiencing some sort of physical abuse and aggression, if a drawing oaf person has no mouth it is suggested that the child finds it difficult to communicate and drawings of a person with aged teeth, spiked fingers and hair relate to aggressive behavior. However to properly interpret childrens drawings, these patterns must be consistent over time and not just occur once otherwise it is highly likely it will have no meaning or representation and is just a random occurrence with significance at all, Wales believes that as we begin to summarize characteristics of childrens drawings and watch them develop and change throughout childhood we soon see that the obeseÐ’Â »actions that are made on the childrens drawings are in fact the product of our own interpretations and what we believe the picture is showing, The question of how children draw pictures which differ so much from adults is a major question which often causes debates such as is there actually a message there or is it just a typical childs drawing which has no significance or meaning whatsoever, Many questions arise involving this research area once people attempt to make sense of childrens drawings, however many people believe childrens drawings should be left as they are without investigation as they believe it is mysterious and imaginative. The research looked into for this essay has shown that the main indicators used in childrens drawings which help to understand childrens thoughts, messages and emotions are the colors used and the figure size. The research into childrens drawings in relation to childrens minds has found many results showing that drawings do relate to the childs cognitions however all research into interpreting childrens drawings and What it tells us about their minds can be criticized because it could just be that the child enjoys drawing something particular and their decision to draw what they are drawing is always influenced by their own knowledge of the object and their own thoughts and interpretations on the object and what bits are important about it. The drawing is a representation of how the child sees the world themselves and it is thought that to alter this information by adding adult interpretations and to investigate more into it is a shame. As the childs cognition capacity increasing, children are more able to express representations as they move trot simple drawings, to complex drawings. It is difficult to conclude whether these drawings actually represent something to the child or whether it is simply our own interpretations and representations. References Barrett, Beaumont gamma; Jennet. (1985). The effect of instructions on view- pacifistic in young childrens drawing and picture selection.