Running head: INVESTIGATING CHILDRENS DRAWINGS

Investigating Childrens Drawings

Tim Appelbaum
University of Missouri

INVESTIGATING CHILDRENS DRAWINGS

Investigating Childrens Drawings

Everything you can imagine is real (Picasso). This quote by Pablo
Picasso speaks to how what a person visualizes is real to them. This is
especially true in kids. Kids imaginations run wild. Capturing this
imagination and guiding it towards the realm of academic education can lead
to exponential educational growth in children. Art is a great way to connect
the imagination with the education. According to Katrin Oddleifson
Robertson of PBS, A study at the 2009 Learning, Arts, and the Brain Summit
reported that children showed more motivation, paid closer attention, and
remembered what they learned more easily when the arts were integrated
into the curriculum (Robertson, K). These are just three examples how art
has been found to help children. Within our class we have also been talking
about ways to integrate art into our classroom, especially in respect to
identity.
Investigation
For this assignment we were instructed to have a child draw a picture
of themselves, their family, or some sort of outdoor scene. Then we were
instructed to dissect the drawing based on the different stages described by
Lowenfeld and Brittain in Analyzing Childrens Art. The different stages are
as follow: the scribbling stage, the pre-schematic stage, the schematic
stage, the gang age, the pseudo-naturalistic stage, and adolescent art

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(Brittain W., Lowenfeld V., 1970, pgs 474-479). Each stage has a distinct set
of characteristics and age parameters. Age wise, my student was in the preschematic stage. However, I believe my student is in the schematic stage
skill wise. According to Lowenfeld and Brittain, a kid in the schematic stage
of drawing will draw, arms and legs show(ing) volume (Brittain W.,
Lowenfeld V., 1970, pg 476) and the body (is) usually made up of
geometric shapes ( Brittain W., Lowenfeld V.,, 1970, pg 476). As you can
see in the picture below, my student included both of these in her drawing.

My student chose to draw a picture of herself. The picture is pretty

straightforward, as was her response. I attempted to question her as to why
she drew things certain ways, but she didnt really want to answer. She
simply replied that she drew things the way she did because she wanted to.

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From this experience I would have liked to enact two extensions. The first
one being me questioning her as to why her smile was so big. According to
Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970) childrens drawings, proportions depend on
emotional values (pg 476). My student is always smiling and running
around. She is one of the happiest and smiling kids I have ever seen. I
believe this is why she drew her smile so big and disproportionate to her
head. The second extension would be to have her draw the same prompt
again. According to Brittain and Lowenfeld (1970) kids who are in the
schematic stage of drawing use, repeated schema for (a) person (476). I
would like to see if she repeated her same schema for drawing herself. This
way I could see how her mood, how the day is going, or another factor might
play into her drawing.
Conclusion
Overall, I truly have enjoyed this experience. Getting to see the why
in kids drawings is extremely interesting and worthwhile. Being able to
dissect my students drawing and using the readings to investigate it was an
aha moment for me. However, I believe it is a slippery slope to put kids
into development categories for drawing. According to Luehrman, M and
Unrath, K, (2006) in their article Making Theories fo Childrens Artistic
Development Meaningful for Preservice Teachers; Stage theory concepts
should not be rigidly interpreted, but rather flexibly referenced as a general

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guide. It is imperative to remember that they are not prescriptive in terms of

what to expect of an individual child at a specific age (8). This quote is
saying that we should use the drawings stages as guidelines, not deadlines
for determining where a child is developmentally. My student showed this by
being in the schematic stage skill-wise, but being in the pre-schematic stage
in terms of age. As teachers it is important for us to not put our kids in rigid
boxes. Instead, we should let our students surprise us and grow at their own
individual rate.

Works Cited
Luehrman, M., & Unrath, K. (2006). Making theories of childrens artistic
development
meaningful for preservice teachers. Art Education. Pg. 8.
Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W.L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. New York:
Macmillan.
Picasso, P. GoodReads. Retrieved from:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3253.Pablo_Picasso
Robertson, K.O. (n.d). How the arts can help struggling learners. PBS.
Retrieved from:
http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/how-the-arts-can-

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help-strugglinglearners/