Children’s Drawings and Psychological Development

Children’s drawings have been collected and studied for more than a century. Researchers have been interested in describing the main features of children’s early drawings and describing the stages of development in drawing and the characteristics of drawings at each stage. Cultural variations in drawing styles and conventions have been identified. Theories of drawing development consider drawing as a window on a child’s mind, as an aspect of cognitive development that can highlight a child’s intelligence or maturity, or as a skill apart from other aspects of development. This entry discusses stages of development in drawing, drawing as a way to measure intelligence, and drawing as an assessment tool in therapeutic intervention.

Drawing and Stages of Development

Drawings have been used to identify children’s emotional state ...

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