The developmental characteristics of four- and five-year-old pre-schoolers’ drawing: An analysis of scribbles,placement patterns,emergent writing,and name writing in archived spontaneous drawing samples

Abstract

The drawings of 17 four- to five-year-old children from two points in time, age four and age five were analyzed. At both ages four and five, the most commonly used scribbles were single vertical lines, single horizontal lines, and single curved lines, whereas the two least used scribbles were spiral and circular lines spread out. The subjects in this sample were most likely to use a centered placement pattern and least likely to use horizontal half, two-sided balance, and extended diagonal half placement patterns. They made significant progress in emergent writing skills from age four to five. At age four, only two children wrote their name on the drawings, while there were fourteen children who did this at age five. In addition to writing their own names, the five year olds often added the names of their family members or friends as well as letter-name elements.