Stages Of Drawing Development In Children (2024)

A wall is like a blank canvas to a child. The minute they discover that they can scribble on a white surface, they look for every opportunity to showcase their artistic skills. Drawing is a natural process for kids, and the stages of drawing for preschoolers help them express themselves freely and easily. The process of drawing begins from random scribbling on walls and paper, and eventually these scribbles start making more sense as children move on to the next stage, and as they grow up.

To learn about these development stages of drawing that children go through, read on.

Why Is Drawing Important For Kids?

Not every child has an interest in drawing. But there are some interesting benefits of drawing for children.

Some of these benefits are:

• It builds their fine motor skills.
• It develops their hand-eye coordination.
• It develops their creative expression.
• It is the foundation of pre-writing skills.
• It builds their attention span.
• It develops their cognitive understanding of concepts.

How To Teach Your Child To Draw?

During the children’s early years, it is important for parents to focus on the process of drawing and not on the end result. There is no need to formally teach children how to draw, but to provide them the exposure to drawing materials and let them express themselves freely. As they grow up, their skills and presentation will improve and become more detailed as they reflect the world around them and express themselves through their art. Some ways in which you can teach your child to draw are:

• Praise your child’s effort to draw instead of saying that “it’s not right” or “not good enough.”
• Help them feel proud of what they’ve created by pinning it or hanging it somewhere in the house where your child can show their masterpiece to guests.
• Make sure your child has access to different drawing materials, like crayons, pencil colours, paints, etc. This will encourage them to be creative using different drawing materials.
• Providing your child with only a colour filling book can often limit their creativity. Instead, give them a blank sheet and let them express themselves freely.
• Do not provide your child with steps on what to do and what not to do. Let them create whatever comes to their mind.

Now that we have an idea on how to go about teaching children how to draw, let’s take a look at different stages of drawing.

What Are The Different Stages Of Drawing?

Every child is unique, and their way of representing things around them is different. Also, parents should remember that all children develop at different speeds and in different ways. So, when it comes to drawing, there are certain stages of drawing development that all children experience. Let’s take a closer look at these drawing stages in early childhood.

Stage 1 – 12 Months – Random Scribbling

The scribbling stage of drawing is the first stage where children explore and develop their motor coordination. Babies of ages 15 to 18 months begin to develop random uncontrolled scribbles that don’t necessarily represent anything.

What Shapes Can Be Taught

1. Scribbles
2. Vertical and horizontal lines
3. Multiple line drawings

Understanding The Concept

Scribbling helps children learn about cause and effect and their ability to make things happen. When they scribble, it enables them to explore the textures and usage of objects, materials and tools such as pencils, crayons, paint, and paper.

Gripping

Around the age of 15 months, kids are usually able to grab pencils and crayons with their whole hands. This grasp is also known as palmar grasp.

Stage 2 – 2 Years – Controlled Scribbling

The second stage is the controlled scribbling stage, where children spontaneously scribble in circles or to-and-fro and in dots. Similar scribbles can be found in almost all children’s drawings at this age, which is necessary for developing drawing, pre-writing skills and writing skills later on.

What Shapes Can Be Taught

1. Horizontal and vertical lines
2. Multiple loops and spirals
3. Roughly drawn circles
4. Shapes that resemble letters T and V

Understanding The Concept

Children begin to discover the connection between the strokes they make and the marks that form on the paper and, therefore, they repeat these strokes on purpose. By the end of this stage, these strokes evolve into simple diagrams.

Gripping

At this stage, they can very well hold a pencil using their thumb and first two fingers. This is known as a tripod grasp. Children also use their preferred hand at this stage.

Stage 3 – 3 Years – Learning Basic Shapes

During stage 3, the children begin to make some basic shapes in their drawings as their fine motor control and hand-eye coordination improve.

What Shapes Can Be Taught

1. Circles
2. Squares
3. Crosses
4. Dots
5. Shapes that resemble T, V and H

Understanding The Concept

A child’s first drawing usually emerges around this stage. Children are able to explain what they have drawn, but their drawings may not actually look like what they are trying to depict. Children generally use only one colour at this stage and also name their picture before or after completing it.

Gripping

Children hold a pencil near the tip, between their first two fingers and the thumb. They use their preferred hand for drawing and hold the pencil with good control. You can help your little one develop a good tripod grasp at this stage by making them use triangular crayons.

Stage 4 – 4 Years – Patterns Representation

At this preschematic stage, some patterns start emerging in children’s drawings. They make a pattern and interpret them as a representation of something, giving it a label.

What Shapes Can Be Taught

1. Squares
2. Circles
3. Rectangles
4. Attempts to make triangles and diamonds
5. Crosses
6. Letters

Understanding The Concept

Children will be able to include small details in their drawings, such as eyes, arms, fingers, etc. They generally draw things they know about; therefore, their drawing takes on more meaning and intention. Children know what they are going to draw before they begin. At this stage, there drawings look like the images they describe.

Gripping

By this stage, children can hold a pencil with good control, just alike adults.

Stage 5 – 5 Years – Drawing Pictures & Portraits

At this stage, children begin to show creativity in their drawings.

What Shapes Can Be Taught

1. Basic shapes
2. Triangles
3. Diamonds
4. Spontaneous letters

Understanding The Concept

Children can now draw spontaneously and reflect their own backgrounds, interests and experiences in their drawings. They draw what they know, but their representation of people, animals and houses changes constantly. You may find their figures floating in the air as children are still developing their spatial perception. One important thing you will notice is that they place themselves in the middle of a drawing due to their egocentric nature.

Gripping

Children develop good control of holding a pencil, crayon or paintbrush in this stage.

Stage 6 – 6 to 7 Years – Own Style Of Drawing

At this stage, children have their own style of drawing, which adults can recognise easily.

What Shapes Can Be Taught

At this stage, children can easily make the following shapes in their drawings.

1. Circles
2. Squares
3. Rectangles
4. Triangles
5. Diamonds in their drawings.

Understanding The Concept

Children can draw people, animals and objects on a baseline and can show perceptions in their drawings. For example, trees are shown higher than houses. They take care of small details, like focusing on important things like a small door of a house. Children’s sense of colour also becomes quite realistic by this stage.

Gripping

Children’s gripping is perfect at this stage. They know how to hold and use pencils and crayons effectively now.

Keep the drawing experience fun for your little one!

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the benefits of drawing and stages of drawing development. Encourage your child to partake in lots of unfiltered drawing activities to express themselves.

Let us know in the comments below how you encourage your little one to love drawing

Also Read:

Teaching Process Art to Children
How Free Play Helps the Development of Kids
Observational Drawing for Preschoolers and Children