Childrens Drawing Analysis

Childrens Drawing Analysis Leah Eiffert Orange Block

Childrens Drawing Analysis

Childrens drawing can be analyzed and can give insight as to where the child is at in their stage of art development. For the class activity, there was a pile of childrens artwork that we picked from. Once we had picked a drawing, we stared using the different attributes of the stages of development to characterize which stage the student that drew the artwork was at. The stages of development are the scribbling stage, pre-schematic stage, schematic, gang, pseudonaturalistic, and adolescent art. The drawing that I picked was definitely done by a young student. The artist of the drawing appears to have a big imagination because of the creature that is the focal point of the drawing. It looks like looks like a cat and bee animal combination, where the cat body has wings. There is a sky and a ground that are both defined by scribbles. Another notable object that the artist included was a sun. There are some other scribbles that are floating around the page that I cannot tell what they are. The artist also chose to post an asking price on his work of twenty three dollars. Based on the drawing that this student did, I can conclude that they are in between the pre-schematic and schematic stage of development in art. In the pre-schematic stage of development, students are usually around four to seven years old and are just beginning to represent actual figures. According to Lowenfeld and Brittain (1970), when a child is in the preschematic stage, the objects in the drawing float around the page and the size of the objects are not all in proportion with one another. This is seen in the drawing that I picked because there are definite objects in the drawing, but they are mostly floating around without a definite place in space. The objects in the drawing are also not in proportion to one another, for example the legs on the cat are just lines coming off of the body, and are not in proportion to the cat, however, the students clearly has a grasp of the head/feet relationship, which is another characteristic of being in the pre-schematic stage of development. The feet represented by lines would be classified as

Childrens Drawing Analysis

an embellishing symbol, where the symbols have few details and are used interchangeable for people and animals (Maryland Board of Education, 1974, pg. 3). Another principle that the legs offer is the phenomenon of intellectual realism, where everything that is known about the object is depicted, even if that makes it unrealistic (Wilson & Wilson, 1982). This is because there are four legs represented in the drawing, but the placement does not make sense in real life. The artist of this drawing also has characteristics of being in the schematic stage of development. According to Lowlenfeld and Brittain (1970), students in the schematic stage have an establishment of a base line on which objects are placed and often a skyline, with the space between representing the air. (pg.476). I think the artist had an idea of the ground and sky and was able to represent grass with scribbles on the bottom of the page as well as a skyline with scribbles at the top of the page. They left a space in the middle that was the air in between where he drew his animal and other objects. This also shows that they attempted to create a more finished product by using the space around the objects (Maryland Board of Education, 1974). Another characteristic of the schematic stage of art development is showing knowledge of the environment, and by having the grass and sun in the drawing, it shows that they knew what to include in order to allow the viewer to see the environment that they wished to represent in their drawing. A child in the pre-schematic and schematic stage of art development needs different instruction than a child who is in a different stage of development. Since this artist had embellishing symbols and used the space around the object, Maryland Board of Education would suggest that a teacher try and provide real life experiences that would provide impressions for their art and explore different things that could be used in their art. (1974) An activity that a teacher could give a child at this stage of development is to have them do simple printmaking

Childrens Drawing Analysis

activities involving repeat patterns and boarders. (Maryland Board of Education, 1974, pg. 3) An activity such as this would help where they are, while pushing them to become a better artist. As an elementary or early childhood teacher, it is important to understand the different principles and stages of development. When you use integration in your lessons, you should know what stage your students are at developmentally so that the lessons that you create are developmentally appropriate. When the teacher understands childrens art development, the teacher and the student benefit. Just like in any other subject, the process of how you teach is the most important to reach the final product. Knowing your students stages of development will allow you to build on their abilities to they can grow. Each child is unique and has unique abilities. A good educator will know their students strengths and weaknesses and be able to create opportunities for each child to push their artistic abilities. The ultimate goal of this would be for each child to reach their creative potential and for teachers and students to strive to grow in their artistic ability. I want to create a classroom where we are not afraid to try things and where art may be out of our comfort zone, but we practice anyway in order to get better at it. I do not want my students to be afraid to practice art. Teachers who ignore their students stage of development might become frustrated that their students are not getting the material or that they are behind in their abilities. This can lead to frustration on the student end, and lead them to believe that they are just not good at art when in reality they are just in a different stage of development and might require different instruction or practice. This kind of misinformation could turn kids away from art, and stifle their creativity. As teachers, we need to meet kids where they are, and teach at a developmentally appropriate level so that each student has a chance to develop their art skills and potentially find something about art that they are passionate about.

Childrens Drawing Analysis

References Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W.L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York: Macmillan.

Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1974). Beginning stages of visual expression of young children. In Art Experience, Development of Visual Perception, 1-4.

Wilson, M., &Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall.

Childrens Drawing Analysis