Running head: ANALYSIS OF CHILDS DRAWING 1

Art for Children: Analysis of Childs Drawing

Kaitlin Nokes

University of Missouri
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On February 20th, 2017, I observed two elementary-aged children engulf themselves in

painting outdoor scenes. Not only did I get to see two different approaches to the same artistic

prompt, I also witnessed the differences between the childrens artistic stages. Observing a child

or a group of children partake in an artistic activity teaches you a lot about the children as

individuals as well as their current stage of artistic development. By doing this, you are able to

gauge where the children are at compared to other children of the same age and observe their

developmental sequences (Luehrman & Unrath, 2006, p. 66). Due to the fact that I did my study

on a first grader as well as a fourth grader, I was eager to find out the differences in their

approaches to creating the outdoor scenes, however, I will be focusing my analysis on the six

year old due to length requirements.

Method

Today we will be creating an outdoor scene. You can use any of the materials on the

table.

Sophia, first grade, and Lindsay, fourth grade, were eager to dive into the art materials

that I brought for them. The materials included an art pad full of drawing paper, rulers, markers,

colored pencils, as well as watercolor paint with an accompanying cup of water and brushes. I

gave them each one piece of paper and asked if there were any questions.

Now remember, there is no right or wrong way to do this. It is all up to you to decide

what this is going to look like in the end. I am just going to take some notes about how you get to

that awesome finished product, so please take your time.

They both headed for the paint right away, however, they took a minute to brainstorm

about what it was that they wanted to paint. They both decided that their houses were the best
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option and got to painting. I stood back and let them freely explore the materials while

emphasizing, once again, that there was no right or wrong way to do this as long as they put

forth their best effort (Teachers Roles and Responsibilities in Art, p. 130).

Findings

First, I will focus on the process of Sophia, 6. She began her piece by dipping her

paintbrush in yellow watercolor paint. She then realized that she needed to get the brush wet first

in order to make the paint stay on the brush. Once she had this figured out, she started making a

big yellow circle in the center of her piece of paper and then filling the circle in with more

yellow paint. After her circle was filled in, she began creating yellow lines coming out from

every angle of the circle.

This is the sun. Now I am going to make the house. Sophia explained.

As she dipped her brush in the black and guided it across her paper, she noticed that the

yellow paint from her sun was still in her brush and was making the black in her house look

murky.

This was supposed to be black, but some yellow got in there. That is okay, though,

because I can make it whatever color I want! She reassured herself.

After her house was painted, Sophia rinsed her brush out and reached for the green.

I like this green. I am going to use it for the grass. She explained as she made a

horizontal stripe of green at the bottom of her page. This made me believe that she was in the

Schematic Stage of artistic development as she was showing a concept of a base line (Brittain &

Lowenfield, 1970, p.476).

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Next, Sophia used light blue paint and made horizontal lines across of the top of her page.

It was at this point she wanted to show off what she had done on her artwork as she exclaimed,

Mom, look!

Sophias mother assured her it looked good and then Sophia glanced at Lindsays

painting coming to the conclusion that Lindsays was better than hers, but also noticed other

details in their paintings.

Her sun is in a different place. Mine is a big sun out in the wild! See? Its in the middle

of the Earth! This statement aligned with the qualities of a child in the Preschematic Stage of

artistic development as space seemed to surround the child, size of objects are not in proportion

to one another and the objects are distorted to fit the available space (Brittain & Lowenfield,

1970, p.475).

Sophia then realized that she did not fill in her house with paint, so she went back and got

some brown to do just that. She also added some more grass, and then decided to use metallic

markers to add details to the house, sun, and grass. This seemed to be her favorite part as she was

laughing and making sound effects the whole time she used the marker. To my surprise, Sophia

then grabbed the ruler and drew straight lines on both the left and right sides of her paper.

Look at my lines! She said as she colored one in with the metallic green marker and the

other in with the metallic black.

She then proceeded to outline one of the rays of sunlight with the black metallic marker

making it have a three-dimensional appearance. Sophia reached for the bronze metallic marker

and explained that she was making dirt under her grass. Lastly, she took the orange colored

pencil and started coloring the white space in between her sun and her house.
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Im making the background orange Is that weird? She asked Lindsay as she

continued to color around her sun. This also aligned with the qualities of a child in the Schematic

Stage of artistic development as she implemented the background (Brittain & Lowenfield, 1970,

p.476). She stopped after the orange got to the top of her house and claimed that she was

finished. Once she was finished, I prompted Sophia to tell me about her art (LTC 4240 Art for

Children, p. 2). She went back through her process with me and explained each step over again

in order to solidify her thinking (Johnson, 2008, p. 78).

As I was trying to figure out which stage of artistic development she was in, listening as

Sophia talked definitely was beneficial to me. She explicitly said things such as, Mine is a big

sun out in the wild. See? Its right in the middle of the Earth! and Im making the background

orange, which helped me see that she was mostly in the Schematic Stage of Artistic

Development.

Conclusion

From examining Sophias drawing and witnessing her process, I concluded that she was

in between the Preschematic and the Schematic Stage of artistic development. She has

knowledge of the world around her, can establish a baseline and background, as well as organize
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the objects in a painting in a two-dimensional or flat way. However, her concept of space was

misconceived and the sizes of objects were not proportionate to one another. Seeing as she is a

first grader, she is in the same stage of development that most of her fellow first grade peers are,

if not a little ahead of them.

When making decisions in the elementary classroom for first-graders like Sophia who are

in the Preschematic to Schematic Stage of Artistic Development, it is best to leave them open-

ended prompts as well as provide them with multiple artistic mediums to work with. Sophia used

at least one of each of the mediums I provided and it added visual interest to her painting as well

as showed her understanding of how to use the medium. For example, she knew that the metallic

marker would make the sun shiny and that the ruler could make the trees stand up straight. If a

teacher were unable to provide students with different medias for freedom of artistic expression,

the students would not enjoy art and stray away from doing it. All of the childrens artwork

would also look the same, and as Robert Burridge said, the forest would be a very quiet place if

only the best birds sang

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References

Brittain, W.L. & Lowenfield, V. (1970). Summary. Creative and Mental Growth. 475-

476.

LTC 4240 art for children. 2.

Luehrman, M., Unrath, K. (2006). Making theories of childrens artistic development

meaningful for preservice teachers. Art Education, 66.

Teachers roles and responsibilities in art. Mizzou Publishing. 126.