DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMAGINATION

From an early age, a child begins to form pictures (images) in the mind. These pictures involve himself and the world about him, and also include other people and the way he sees them.

By 2 years of age, the imagination has developed enough for the child to be able to use symbols to represent real things. For example:

• dolls represent people
• small toy cars represent real cars
• words are used for objects and actions
• drawings describe events and express feelings.

At times, it is very hard for young children to separate the real world from their imaginary world.

DRAWING

Drawing is important as it helps children to express their feelings and imagination and to record their experiences.
Children love to draw. They are ready to do so as soon as they can hold a pencil or crayon, which is between the age of 12 and 18 months. The first drawings are scribbles. This is followed by 'big head' figures. The drawings gradually become more realistic as the child develops more control over the pencil, and as he comes to notice and understand more about the world.

STAGES IN LEARNING TO DRAW

Children pass through most or all of the following stages as they learn to draw. These stages often overlap, so when looking at a drawing made by a child, it may be difficult to place it in any one particular stage.

Stage 1 The child's hand moves backwards and forwards to produce a scribble.   Stage 2 The child becomes able to lift the pencil from the paper and move it in different directions.   Stage 3 He begins to scribble in circles.   Stage 4 He becomes able to draw round and round in circles.   Stage 5 He now starts to draw people and uses a circle to represent a face. Marks are put inside for eyes, nose, mouth.   Stage 6 Lines are added all round the circles as well.   Stage 7 The lines are arranged in bunches to represent hair, arms, legs.   Stage 8 The arms come straight out at the sides of the face. The legs come from a smaller circle which is drawn below for the body.   Stage 9 The body becomes much more important and the legs have feet.   Stage 10 Clothes are added. The drawings also have trees, houses, animals, cars and other objects in the child's world.

WHEN A DRAWING IS FINISHED
Children generally like to have their drawings admired and sometimes pinned on the wall for everyone to see. However, sometimes after completing a drawing, they scribble or paint over it so that it can no longer be seen. This often seems to give them pleasure similar to that which they get from knocking over a pile of bricks or a sand-castle.