Minor/Major: Research - The Psychology of Children's Drawings

"Kids Drawings Speak Volumes About Home"

The first article I looked at starts of with the opening statement of "When children reach 6 years old, their drawings matter."

The Article shows a study of how a child's home environment can affect their drawings. Researchers found that children with a more chaotic background of life were more likely to draw themselves at a distance from their parents, isolating themselves in their own images. Or they found that the child was also more likely to draw their parents smaller in comparison to other features in the drawings. The researcher did not blame the parents or caretakers but called this kind of stress in the home a "function of poverty."

"In some cases, these kids drew themselves with drooping arms and indifferent or sad faces. Their drawings were a reflection of this simple fact: Chaos at home meant parents were interacting with them less and, in many cases, the interactions that were happening were shorter and interrupted. As a result, kids ended up with a depreciated sense of self" -  Roger Mills-Koonce

"Interpreting Children's Drawings"

Understand How Children's Drawings Develop

1. Scribbling - At this stage, there is no realism in the pictures, and they are mostly just marks on a page. It might seem like there is nothing there, but sometimes children create something called “fortuitous realism.” This means that when the scribbles are done, you might be able to see certain shapes or drawings in what appeared to be simple marks.

2. Pre-Schematic - At this stage, children are attempting to create things that they see with their eyes. They might draw the simplest things, such as faces, stick figures, cars, trucks, trees, and houses. There are usually no realistic details to these drawings. At the end of the stage, they begin adding in certain things that set their ideas apart, such as flowers in front of a house or clothes on the stick figures.

3. Schematic - In this stage there are many details, and the child might use words and symbols. They might use clever shapes, such as a “v” for birds. They draw as realistically as their skills allow, and they show the picture from a certain viewpoint or perspective. They can often tell a clear story with these drawings.

How to Interpret Children's Drawings

Interpreting a child's drawing means to discover and understand their way of thinking and their emotions. Through the research I have looked at I have found that it is important to not look so deep into the drawings as to over think the meaning but to instead allow the child to explain to you what they have drawn and what it means to them. By asking the right questions you might find answers you were looking for and also unexpected answers.

When looking at this article, I found a 'General Rules' header to interpreting a child's drawing and found the following information helpful in a psychological way to understanding how a child draws.

The General Rules of Interpreting A Child's Drawing

• Gender and color preference. 
• Darker colors tend to be used by a child who is more dominant or demanding. 
• Girls tend to like warmer colours.
• Boys tend to go for the cooler colours.
• Green tends to mean a child is more creative.
• Yellow means happiness.
• Red is the colour of excitement – and one that most children love to use.

The position on the page can also mean:

• Those who put drawings on the left side are looking to the past and to a nurturing presence.
• while the right side is the future and a need to communicate. 
• Drawings that are at the bottom of the page often mean insecurity or feelings of inadequacy.

When drawing figures, the size matters:

• Those who are larger are the more dominant personalities
• Those without arms are non-aggressive. 
• Those with exaggerated hands might mean someone who is aggressive
• Tiny feet might mean a child is feeling unstable or off balance.

Many emotions can seep through a child's drawing, for example in the research I found, if a child has recently experienced a family death they can be found to be adding holes into their drawings with family their closest to during that time around the hole. Details can allow some to perceive if the child is living in a happy family in their eyes and how they view each member of their family. Facial expressions on stick figures can for example demonstrate that family members general mood. It can also be noted that these emotions can be an indication of the child's personality of such:

• Impulsive child: Big figures, no necks, and asymmetry of limbs.
• Anxious child: Clouds, rain, flying birds, no eyes on the figures
• Shy child: Short figures, no nose or mouth, tiny figures and arms close to the body
• Angry child: Big hands and teeth, long arms, crossed eyes
• Insecure child: Monstrous figures, tiny heads, no hands, and slanted figures