Drawing of milestones (2024)

• Development,Eye-hand coordination,Fine motor skills,Functional skills,handwriting,Occupational therapy activities,Visual motor skills

• doorColleen Beck
• February 17, 2023

Ithe development of childrenOne of the underrated areas of development is the developmental stages of drawing, and especially drawing milestones. Here we talk all about drawing and what to pay attention to when a child draws. In this post, we'll take a closer look at the typical drawing milestones for young children or students beginning to draw (since not all students develop at the same pace). You also learn what a drawing can say about a person. The post also includes helpful strategies for developing drawing milestones, such as what to look for. Let's explore the development of drawing skills in detail.

Be sure to check out all the ideas on ourcreative paintinglist for more self-expression fun.

Drawing milestones

What do you pay attention to when analyzing a student's drawings? Draft copy, clarity, number of details, realism or psychosocial issues? It could be all of it, some of the above, or something completely different.

Of atoddlerWhen writing to a teen who draws realistic art representations, there are several developmental stages of drawing that develop, such as grip, visual motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and imaginative thinking (and other areas).

The following is a general guide to developing drawing skills. Not all students develop at the same pace or age, but they tend to follow a similar pattern.

According toAuthorized parentsIn this group, caregivers should not teach drawing skills or use coloring books, as this hinders the student's natural creativity. This is conjecture, as students who are neurodivergent or have special needs do not learn in the same way as their typical peers.

Due to a lack of understanding or awareness of their environment, some students will need to learn or demonstrate a model.

Developmental stages of drawing

There are certain stages of development in drawing, but not everyone will go through these stages at the same time.

Unlike other areas of developmental milestones, the development of drawing skills is fluid. Consider the ages and stages listed below as approximate, as well as the characteristics of each stage.

• When babies are about twelve months old, they can make a mark about an inch long on the paper
• Babies aged 15-18 months draw scribbles and lines. This phase of writing is the cause and effect phase with uncontrolled motor movements.
• Controlled scribbling begins from the age of two. Students may be able to draw lines and circular loops. They may be able to write a shape that looks like the letter T, but not yet consciously cross those lines. At this age, students understand that their movements can make marks on the paper. Drawing is done by moving the elbow and using the entire hand. Fine motor skills are increasingly becoming a contributing factor in line drawings.
• Three-year-olds can make basic circles, crosses, dots, loops and sometimes poorly formed squares. Their drawing of a person resembles a tadpole with a large head and floating legs. Very few details are added at this stage. They might be able to tell you about their photo even if it isn't recognizable. When drawing, the entire hand is still used to make pencil movements. They do not use colors accurately to display images.Hand eye coordinationplays a role, but is primitive at this stage of the drawing.
• After four years, students begin to create patterns and give meaning to their artwork. They can make circles and squares and try a triangle, although they are usually poorly formed. At this stage they start developing writing skills. Their drawing of a person includes some details such as arms, eyes and fingers. Some children will develop an abnormal shape at this stage. Students can put things together to form a house or a car, for example. They often learn these skills by watching others.
• After five years, drawing has both details and details. Your person may have hair, ears, glasses, fingers and clothes. They begin to draw other familiar objects, such as houses, horses, dogs, trucks and rainbows. They use color to represent certain characteristics, such as the color of the eyes, hair or the color of a house. Objects are generally out of proportion and floating because students have not yet developed the visual perceptual skills to understand these concepts. Interesting fact from Empowered Parents: Children often place themselves large and in the center of their drawing because they are self-centered at this stage.
• Ages 6-7: Students begin to develop a specific drawing style. Their shapes and representations become more clearly defined at this stage. They start drawing things without perspective. like a tree that is taller than a person or the family standing in the grass. The colors are more realistic at this point. Students tend to draw what they know or are interested in. They draw their perception of the world, such as a horse standing very tall next to them, or windows sitting very high in a house.
• Seven to twelve: Drawings begin to become patterned, students develop a more artistic style, and some students begin to excel at drawing.

Just as the average adult reads at a fifth grade level, I would venture to guess that most adults can draw at this child's level too!

Drawing MilestonesTests

One of the famous character milestone tests was featured in a scene from Silence of the Lambs. In the film, the subject was asked to draw a person, a tree and a house so that the researcher could determine whether the man was psychotic.

Other drawing tests are used to determine levels of visual motor integration. Occupational therapists are familiar with the use of basic shapes to determine visual motor skillsvisual perceptual skills.

One of these drawing tests isBruininks-Oseretsky test of motor skills(BOT2). This test includes a form copying section to determine visual motor integration skills.

Another drawing test is parts ofBeery-Buktenica developmental test of visual-motor integration (Beery VMI). This test is an assessment of the child's visual motor integration development and includes a drawing assessment to copy geometric shapes, arranged in order of increasing difficulty.

Take a personality test

The creators of the Draw a Person test claimed that it was able to determine whether someone had schizophrenia based on the nature of the subject's drawing. Characteristics such as a large head, no hair, omitted ears and large hands indicated various conditions such as paranoia, narcissism, oppositional behavior, impulsivity and more.

What do you pay attention to when analyzing an image? At school we learned that someone without eyes must have poor eye contact or difficulty seeing, while someone without ears feels like they are not being heard. In practice, it seems more likely that the student has forgotten certain elements, does not think about parts such as ears, or has not mastered the stage of drawing milestones.

Have you seen drawings that made you pause? Perhaps a young child draws something explicit, violent or possibly inappropriate? As a rule of thumb, I try to analyze the student as a whole, rather than getting too alarmed by just their drawings.

Clock Drawing Test

The clock drawing test is a traditional tool for assessing the mental status of patients and is one of the most commonly used screening tests for cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease. By drawing a clock from memory, this drawing test can assess several components such as executive function, visuospatial skills, and semantic memory. This drawing assessment shows the presence of a cognitive decline in patience.

Benefits of drawing

What are the benefits of drawing?

• Helps build hand-eye coordination
• Working with bilateral integration
• Develops fine motor skills
• Improves creativity when drawing freely
• Starts with the basics of pre-writing skills
• Helps develop grip pattern
• Addresses attention and focus
• Develops cognitive skills, visual perception and social functioning
• Although tracing and copying do not develop creativity, these activities will help develop the other important skills above. Hopefully copying drawings will develop into creative expression

How to develop drawing milestones

• Provide plenty of tools/media for drawing and exploring, including paint, chalk, markers, crayons, finger paints, etc.
• Encourage creativity and free play with drawing tools and craft supplies
• Entice young students with fun items like glitter, sequins, pom poms and colored paper to add to their photos
• Figure drawing and coloring skills - color in a restaurant while waiting for a doctor or as a family
• Play family drawing games like Pictionary
• Some students may reject colored pencils because of the texture or the force required to color. Provide alternatives such as markers, bingo pens or brushes to stimulate expression
• When critiquing, look at all the details of the drawing. How many body parts are present, how many different colors are used, are the shapes on the corners open or closed, the image is recognizable to others. These metrics can be used to track their performance from previous work.

Despite what the folks at Empowered Parents say, I personally love a good coloring book. It hasn't hindered my creativity as there are endless color combinations, glitter pens and color styles!

Drawing milestone activities

If a child (or older person) is interested in drawing, this is a great way to support skill development. Try some of the drawing activities below.

The OT Toolbox is a great resource for drawing and coloring activities. Check out some of these products:

• Drawing mind maps

• Complete the Draw Back to School version

• OfSummer OT packagecovers a variety of skills
• A-Z writing and drawingprompter
• How to draw a guided drawing with an owl?
• Sensory drawing of the driveway

Victoria Wood, OTR/L contributes to The OT Toolbox and has been providing occupational therapy treatments in pediatrics for over 25 years. She has practiced in hospitals (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing disorders in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars and training for school staff. She is the author of Seeing Your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.