Sequencing and Differentiation in Young Children's Drawings

This paper reports a study of drawings of men and dogs by 80 British children aged 3-7 years, which are analysed for their degree of differentiation in relation to the graphic features and tools used, and also for the sequencing of the different features incorporated. In common with previous research, the degree and sophistication of differentiation is shown to generally increase with age. However, the production of different sequences of features within the two drawings is shown to be more closely and directly related to their degree of differentiation. It is argued that introducing young children to the use of different sequences in their drawings may facilitate their development in solving a range of graphic problems.