What Does Drawing and Painting Nurture in Children?

Why this topic is on parents’ minds

“My child loves drawing and draws almost every day. But I’m a little worried…”—this is a phrase often heard from families with children around age 3. Several questions come up that are hard to decide.

• Compared with other children the same age, is my child “good” or “bad” at drawing?
• Should I get her to start drawing faces and people? Or let her draw freely?
• Would sending her to a drawing class develop her expressiveness?
• Is praising with “You’re so good at it” a good thing, or a bad thing?
• Should I have her do tracing workbooks? What about coloring books?
• Is it true that drawing also improves math and language?

This topic is an area with a relatively solid body of research. That is exactly why we will go in order through “children’s drawings change like this with age” and “this effect of art education is supported, this effect is limited.”

Children’s drawings change “on their own” with age

The first thing we want to tell you is the fact that children’s drawings change with age even without being taught. This is the central finding of research on children’s drawings, observed repeatedly since the middle of the 20th century.

Kellogg’s research — what one million drawings revealed

is a classic that systematically organized the development of children’s drawing.

Kellogg found that, across cultures and countries, the lines and shapes children draw follow common patterns. The flow of development she showed is roughly as follows.

• Scribble: about 20 kinds of basic lines appear, such as dots, vertical lines, horizontal lines, circles, and spirals
• Placement: where on the paper to put lines starts to be chosen with intention
• Shape: children start to draw closed shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles
• Pictorial: drawings appear that clearly represent something, such as a person, a house, or the sun

What matters in Kellogg’s observations is that these stages appear in almost every child in the same order, even without being taught. Through the act of drawing itself, children move forward to “the next stage” within themselves.

Lowenfeld & Brittain — developmental stages from an educator’s viewpoint

At about the same time as Kellogg, another classic was written.

is a major work that organized the developmental stages of children’s drawings from an educator’s viewpoint. The 1st edition appeared in 1947, and the final 8th edition in 1987; it has been referred to in early childhood education settings around the world.

The three main stages Lowenfeld showed that relate to early childhood are as follows.

• Scribbling stage (ages 2 to 4): a time of enjoying the movement of the arm. At first, disordered lines; then repeated lines; and then children start naming them, “This is ___”
• Preschematic stage (ages 4 to 7): the first attempts to represent something, such as a person or a house. “Tadpole figures,” with arms and legs coming straight out of the head, are drawn
• Schematic stage (ages 7 to 9): children acquire their own “pattern for drawing” and become able to draw the same patterns repeatedly

In other words, the “messy lines” and the “face with two dots in a circle” that your 3-year-old daughter draws are completely natural and important expressions for her age. Getting ahead with “I want her to draw better pictures” can disturb the pace of her own development.

So, does drawing also improve “other abilities”?

Now comes the question many parents really care about. “If my child draws a lot, will they get smarter?” “If I send them to an art class, will their math and reading and writing improve too?”—on this, as with music education, the research world takes a careful view.

Winner et al.’s OECD report — the conclusions of a large review

is an important document that summarizes where art education research has arrived.

Summarizing this report’s conclusions very simply, they are as follows.

• The claim that “art education raises grades in math and reading and writing” is not strongly supported
• As an exception, there is relatively solid evidence that drama education improves language skills (reading comprehension, vocabulary)
• Evidence that visual arts such as drawing and modeling improve other academic grades is limited
• However, this does not mean “art education has no value.” Art should be evaluated not as “a tool to improve other abilities” but by “the value of art itself”

In the conclusion of the report, the researchers state clearly: “The most important justification for arts education is the development of artistic habits of mind.”

Hetland & Winner — a point made repeatedly since the 2000s

Before the OECD report,

also reached a conclusion along the same lines. A “causal” relationship between art education and academics could be confirmed only in a very few cases (listening to music and spatial reasoning, drama and language), and for most combinations the conclusion was that “there is a correlation, but a causal relationship has not been shown.”

What Hetland and Winner repeatedly stressed is that “families and schools that are active in art are likely to already have an environment that also supports children’s academics.” In other words, it is often not that drawing improves math, but that another factor behind both (family involvement, investment in education, etc.) improves both.

Catterall — implications for “social engagement” seen in long-term follow-up

On the other hand,

reports that students who were deeply involved in art activities in junior high and high school were more active in social participation (voting, volunteering, community activities) as adults. There was also a result that the effects of art activities appeared larger for children from low-income families.

However, this study is an observational study (a study that collects data by observing children’s natural situations; because it is not an experiment with controlled conditions, it is considered hard to conclude causation), and it cannot strictly separate whether “art developed social engagement” or “children who were already socially engaged stayed involved in art longer.” Even so, the fact itself that “there is a positive association between art activities and future social participation” is one of the carefully accumulated findings.

How to read the three studies

In other words, the proposition “if you have your child draw, they will become smart” is not supported by research as a whole at present. But that does not at all mean “drawing has no meaning”—this is the conclusion that comes from lining up the research. This structure has exactly the same shape as “transfer from music to cognition,” which we covered in our related article, Are the effects of piano and music education real?

Even so, drawing has real value

Reading only this far, you might feel, “So drawing has no meaning?” But research does not go so far as to say “art education itself has no value.” Rather, the conclusion after organizing it is that “as long as you don’t mistake its purpose, drawing is an extremely rich activity for young children.”

Value 1: The experience of expressing oneself itself

If you set aside “whether it transfers to other abilities,” bringing something in your head out into lines and colors is itself real learning. The drawing a 3-year-old holds out, saying “I drew Mommy!”, may look “messy” to adult eyes, but for the child it is “the result of expressing the presence called Mommy in her own way.” The experience of expressing oneself becomes a foundation that later develops into words and stories.

Value 2: Fine motor control and eye-hand coordination

Gripping a crayon, drawing a line, keeping it within the paper, coloring areas in different colors—drawing is a very natural activity that trains fine finger movements and eye-hand coordination. This builds up in early childhood less as “preparation for reading and writing” and more as “the experience of controlling your own body yourself.”

Value 3: The ability to “see” beautiful things

When children draw, the way they see the world changes. That the sky is not only blue, that leaves are not only green, that people’s faces come in many shapes—when they try to draw, they try to see. Aesthetic sensitivity does not show up in test scores, but it is a power that quietly enriches the quality of life.

Value 4: Self-esteem and a sense of “this is mine”

The experience of creating something with your own hands and having it treated with care nurtures a sense that “my expression has value.” A drawing stuck on the refrigerator, a drawing framed and displayed—what they convey to a child is the message: “What you made has a place in the world.”

How adults engage — what works and what to avoid

Based on research and the developmental stages, “ways of engaging that work” at home and “ways of engaging that parents tend to fall into but are not desirable” can be laid out fairly clearly.

Some of you may have felt a jolt seeing the “ways of engaging to avoid.” But these are all things “parents tend to do without any ill intent.” Research also points out that ways of engaging that come from parents’ good intentions—“I’ll help her draw well”—can actually get too far ahead of the child’s developmental stage.

“What’s this?” rather than “You’re good at it”

Children who are constantly told “So good!” start trying to draw “pictures that satisfy adults.” On the other hand, children who are asked “What did you draw here?” “How did you draw it?” think about “what they wanted to express.” That the latter tends to lead to an attitude of enjoying drawing for a long time is a finding widely shared in art education settings. As we also mention in The science of praise (Japanese), engagement that looks at the process rather than the result nurtures intrinsic motivation.

“Is a drawing class necessary?” — it is not essential

To give the conclusion first, a drawing class is not essential for drawing in early childhood. With the art materials you have at home (white paper, crayons, paint, clay), a place and time where drawing is allowed, and an adult who watches over them, it is enough at the ages 3 to 6 stage.

That said, drawing classes have value too. Children can handle large materials they can’t use at home, can have the experience of drawing alongside other children, and can get feedback from a specialist teacher—these are stimuli that homes don’t have. Thinking of it not as “they have to go” but as “if they go, they can have a different experience” is close to reality according to research too.

A Reggio viewpoint — one of the “hundred languages”

In Reggio Emilia education, children are thought to have “a hundred languages.” Drawing is one important “language” among them, but it is not the only “right expression.” Kneading clay, dancing, singing, chasing shadows, stacking blocks—all of these are children’s expressions. Rather than worrying “she doesn’t seem to like drawing,” the attitude of finding that child’s favorite “language” together is consistent with research.

If you are actually going to do it, how should you go about it?

Based on research, here is how to approach drawing at home.

1. Create “an environment where she can keep drawing” rather than “making her good”

The biggest goal in early childhood is not to make the child draw good pictures, but to nurture the sense that “drawing is fun” and “the pictures I draw are treasured.” Keep white paper and crayons where the child can reach them. That alone lets children start drawing at their own pace.

2. “Tell me what’s here” rather than “What’s this?”

When you ask “What’s this?”, children may feel they have to give “the right answer.” Questions that enter the child’s world, like “What’s this part?” or “Tell me about it,” lead them to talk more freely. This is one of the ways of engaging valued in Reggio Emilia education.

3. Display and keep the drawings

On the refrigerator, on a corkboard, stuck in a sketchbook, photographed and put in an album—any form is fine, as long as you create moments where the drawings are “treated with care.” This conveys to the child the message that “my expression has value.”

4. Adults don’t draw models

When your child begs, “Mommy, draw a cat,” you may be tempted to draw a good picture for them. But seeing it, the child may feel “my drawing isn’t as good as Mommy’s.” Answering “I’d rather see the cat you draw” lets the child’s drawing keep going freely.

5. Don’t make coloring books and tracing workbooks the “main” activity

Coloring and tracing are not bad in themselves. However, they are activities of “filling in within a set frame,” and a different experience from drawing, which is “creating something from zero yourself.” You can do both, but keeping free drawing as the “main” activity is natural in terms of developmental stages too.

6. Don’t compare with siblings or friends

In the development of 3-year-olds, individual differences of 1 to 2 years are perfectly normal. There is no need to worry that “her friend can already draw people, but my child is still scribbling.” It is enough to look only at “which stage this child is at now.”

7. Respect “periods of not drawing” too

A child who drew every day may suddenly stop drawing one day. This is often not “getting bored” but “interest moving to other ways of expressing.” Clay, blocks, pretend play—there will be days they come back to drawing and days they don’t. Even so, there is no problem. Drawing is just one of the “hundred languages.”

Closing dialogue