A Child's Drawing Analysis
Each child develops differently mentally, physically, emotionally, and artistically. Children’s art work is often reflected through their personal experiences. Each child’s artwork can be analyzed to figure out what developmental stage they are at and what concepts the child understands. The six developmental stages are Scribbling Stage, Preschematic Stage, Schematic Stage, Gang Age, Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage, and Adolescent Art. The more teachers know about what developmental stage their students are at, the more they can put that knowledge into their curriculum.
In my class analysis activity I received a child’s drawing where I had to place the drawing in the appropriate stage of artistic drawing development. The Scribbling Stage is the beginning of self-expression and the children are
typically two to four years old. The Preschematic Stage is the first attempt at representations and this is seen in age’s four to seven. The Schematic Stage is when form concept is achieved and the children are typically seven to nine years old. The Gang Age is the beginning of realism and this is seen in age’s nine to twelve. The Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage is the age of reasoning, and the children are typically twelve to fourteen years old. Adolescent Art is the period of decisions, and this is seen in ages fourteen to seventeen. (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 1970). At first I
thought my child’s drawing was in the Preschematic Stage. The drawing characteristics in this stage are shapes for
things are geometric and lose their meaning when removed from the whole, objects drawn are not related to one another, and placement and size of objects are determined subjectively. In the Preschematic Stage the space representations are the size of the objects, are not in proportion to one another, objects are distorted to fit space available, and objects seem to float around the page. (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 1970). As I took a closer look and discussed my placement with my group I realized my child’s drawing only had one drawing characteristic of the Preschematic Stage, the shapes for things in the picture are geometric, and one space representation, the size of the objects are not in proportion to one another. I then decided that my child’s drawing fit better in the Schematic Stage because it had more qualities of the drawing characteristics, space representations, and human representations found in the Schematic Stage.
My child’s drawing contains a flower growing out of the grass with a person and a cat standing on the grass and the sun below the sky. The person is made up of a triangle body with lines coming out of the top and bottom to represent arms and legs; the person’s face consists of a circle with two circle eyes, a triangle nose, a circle mouth, and lines of hair. The cat is made up of a rectangle body with a line tail, four line legs, a circle face, two circle eyes, a circle nose, and a mouth made with a line. The flowers consist of one circle in the middle with six circles surrounding it and has a line stem with two half circles representing leaves. The grass is shown with ten long lines, the sun is a circle with a smiling face inside, and the sky is a scribbled color block.
The space representations in the Schematic Stage that my child’s drawing consists of are an establishment of a base line on which objects are placed and often a sky line with the space between representing the air and no or little overlapping. The human representations my child’s drawing consists of are usually made up of geometric
shapes, arm and legs show volume and are usually correctly placed, and proportions depend on emotional values. (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 1970). My child’s drawing has a baseline of grass where the objects are all standing on and a skyline with space between to represent air, and the only objects that overlap each other are the person and dog are standing on top of the grass a little. My child’s drawing of a person is made up of a triangle body and the arms and legs are correctly placed. The cat’s body is a square with a circle head. I believe there is an exaggeration between the cat and the person because the child has strong feelings towards the cat. I mistook this for the
Preschematic Stage of the size of the objects is not in proportion to one another. My child’s drawing belongs in the Schematic Stage because the child has awareness of the concept of space, the items in the drawing are all spatially related, and the shapes and objects are easily definable. What I learned about my child through their drawing is the child has an understanding of geometric shapes, knowledge of space such as the sky is above the ground, has
an emotional value to a cat, and can correctly identify where arms and legs belong to on a body.
“According to Viktor Lowenfeld and W. L. Brittain, children progress through stages of development in their artwork in predictable ways, with wide variations within an age norm or stage. Just as reading and math levels vary
widely in an average class, we should expect it would be natural for art levels to also vary widely.” (Erickson and Young, 1996, p. 41). Even though children all progress through the different stages doesn’t mean that they go through them the same way or in the same time. Children’s art work is sometimes reflected in a personal experience they have gone through. Children can go through the same experiences, but it could affect them differently. Children’s art abilities and understanding of art change while they are going through cognitive, emotional, social, and physical changes.
By analyzing my child’s drawing I learned I can gain information about a student based on what they are drawing. If a student is drawing about something and it is exaggerated, then the student probably has some emotional value towards it. By knowing what my students are interested in I can then find ways to apply that to what I am teaching so they become more engaged and involved. The educational benefits for the elementary students from the teacher’s understanding the child’s art development are by knowing the child can correctly
relate two symbols and organize a picture I can encourage the child to become aware of spatial relationships.
Also, before a painting or drawing is begun, I could encourage the child to recall many aspects of an experience. (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1984). The benefits of this are it helps the students have a better understanding of what they would like to include in their drawing and where to correctly place things. This would also be helpful if I wanted the student to later write about their drawing because this would help with descriptive details. Since I know the child has mastered spatial relationships, I can challenge them to learn something new by having the child recall many aspects of an experience before they begin drawing it. This will help them think of more things they can add to their picture and it would bring out the emotions they received from that experience. The educational benefits for the classroom teacher are the teacher can start planning the curriculum around the developmental stages of the classroom and of the students, the differences between children due to the variation in their developmental progress, and how much social and cultural influences affects the students art work.
Being informed of these ideas the teacher understands what level each student is at, and they now have to put in some work to make sure that each lesson is addressing all the developmental stages that are present in the
teachers classroom. Knowing a student is above a developmental stage for their age level and choosing to ignore it, is hurting the child because they are not getting challenged enough. By not knowing these ideas the teacher will not know what age appropriate art curriculum or materials are best suited for the whole class so that no student is left behind. (Luehram and Unrath, 2006).
References
Brittain, W. L& Lowenfeld, V. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York, NY: Macmillan Co. 22-25, 474-479.
Erickson, M.& Young, B. (1996). What every educator should (but maybe doesn’t) know. School Arts, 40-42.
Luehram, M.& Unrath, K. (2006). Making theories of children’s artistic development meaningful for pre-service
teachers. Art Education, 6-12.
Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1984). Beginning stages of visual expression of young children. Art Experience, Development of Visual Perception, 1-8.
In my class analysis activity I received a child’s drawing where I had to place the drawing in the appropriate stage of artistic drawing development. The Scribbling Stage is the beginning of self-expression and the children are
typically two to four years old. The Preschematic Stage is the first attempt at representations and this is seen in age’s four to seven. The Schematic Stage is when form concept is achieved and the children are typically seven to nine years old. The Gang Age is the beginning of realism and this is seen in age’s nine to twelve. The Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage is the age of reasoning, and the children are typically twelve to fourteen years old. Adolescent Art is the period of decisions, and this is seen in ages fourteen to seventeen. (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 1970). At first I
thought my child’s drawing was in the Preschematic Stage. The drawing characteristics in this stage are shapes for
things are geometric and lose their meaning when removed from the whole, objects drawn are not related to one another, and placement and size of objects are determined subjectively. In the Preschematic Stage the space representations are the size of the objects, are not in proportion to one another, objects are distorted to fit space available, and objects seem to float around the page. (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 1970). As I took a closer look and discussed my placement with my group I realized my child’s drawing only had one drawing characteristic of the Preschematic Stage, the shapes for things in the picture are geometric, and one space representation, the size of the objects are not in proportion to one another. I then decided that my child’s drawing fit better in the Schematic Stage because it had more qualities of the drawing characteristics, space representations, and human representations found in the Schematic Stage.
My child’s drawing contains a flower growing out of the grass with a person and a cat standing on the grass and the sun below the sky. The person is made up of a triangle body with lines coming out of the top and bottom to represent arms and legs; the person’s face consists of a circle with two circle eyes, a triangle nose, a circle mouth, and lines of hair. The cat is made up of a rectangle body with a line tail, four line legs, a circle face, two circle eyes, a circle nose, and a mouth made with a line. The flowers consist of one circle in the middle with six circles surrounding it and has a line stem with two half circles representing leaves. The grass is shown with ten long lines, the sun is a circle with a smiling face inside, and the sky is a scribbled color block.
The space representations in the Schematic Stage that my child’s drawing consists of are an establishment of a base line on which objects are placed and often a sky line with the space between representing the air and no or little overlapping. The human representations my child’s drawing consists of are usually made up of geometric
shapes, arm and legs show volume and are usually correctly placed, and proportions depend on emotional values. (Brittain and Lowenfeld, 1970). My child’s drawing has a baseline of grass where the objects are all standing on and a skyline with space between to represent air, and the only objects that overlap each other are the person and dog are standing on top of the grass a little. My child’s drawing of a person is made up of a triangle body and the arms and legs are correctly placed. The cat’s body is a square with a circle head. I believe there is an exaggeration between the cat and the person because the child has strong feelings towards the cat. I mistook this for the
Preschematic Stage of the size of the objects is not in proportion to one another. My child’s drawing belongs in the Schematic Stage because the child has awareness of the concept of space, the items in the drawing are all spatially related, and the shapes and objects are easily definable. What I learned about my child through their drawing is the child has an understanding of geometric shapes, knowledge of space such as the sky is above the ground, has
an emotional value to a cat, and can correctly identify where arms and legs belong to on a body.
“According to Viktor Lowenfeld and W. L. Brittain, children progress through stages of development in their artwork in predictable ways, with wide variations within an age norm or stage. Just as reading and math levels vary
widely in an average class, we should expect it would be natural for art levels to also vary widely.” (Erickson and Young, 1996, p. 41). Even though children all progress through the different stages doesn’t mean that they go through them the same way or in the same time. Children’s art work is sometimes reflected in a personal experience they have gone through. Children can go through the same experiences, but it could affect them differently. Children’s art abilities and understanding of art change while they are going through cognitive, emotional, social, and physical changes.
By analyzing my child’s drawing I learned I can gain information about a student based on what they are drawing. If a student is drawing about something and it is exaggerated, then the student probably has some emotional value towards it. By knowing what my students are interested in I can then find ways to apply that to what I am teaching so they become more engaged and involved. The educational benefits for the elementary students from the teacher’s understanding the child’s art development are by knowing the child can correctly
relate two symbols and organize a picture I can encourage the child to become aware of spatial relationships.
Also, before a painting or drawing is begun, I could encourage the child to recall many aspects of an experience. (Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, 1984). The benefits of this are it helps the students have a better understanding of what they would like to include in their drawing and where to correctly place things. This would also be helpful if I wanted the student to later write about their drawing because this would help with descriptive details. Since I know the child has mastered spatial relationships, I can challenge them to learn something new by having the child recall many aspects of an experience before they begin drawing it. This will help them think of more things they can add to their picture and it would bring out the emotions they received from that experience. The educational benefits for the classroom teacher are the teacher can start planning the curriculum around the developmental stages of the classroom and of the students, the differences between children due to the variation in their developmental progress, and how much social and cultural influences affects the students art work.
Being informed of these ideas the teacher understands what level each student is at, and they now have to put in some work to make sure that each lesson is addressing all the developmental stages that are present in the
teachers classroom. Knowing a student is above a developmental stage for their age level and choosing to ignore it, is hurting the child because they are not getting challenged enough. By not knowing these ideas the teacher will not know what age appropriate art curriculum or materials are best suited for the whole class so that no student is left behind. (Luehram and Unrath, 2006).
References
Brittain, W. L& Lowenfeld, V. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York, NY: Macmillan Co. 22-25, 474-479.
Erickson, M.& Young, B. (1996). What every educator should (but maybe doesn’t) know. School Arts, 40-42.
Luehram, M.& Unrath, K. (2006). Making theories of children’s artistic development meaningful for pre-service
teachers. Art Education, 6-12.
Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1984). Beginning stages of visual expression of young children. Art Experience, Development of Visual Perception, 1-8.