FIRST MARKS
Scribbles carry meaning
Most children scribble by 18 months. Later, the AAP notes, a child may look at a scribble and decide it looks like a dog: the meaning often comes after the mark.
Find the stageWHAT THE MILESTONES SAY
Every letter starts
as a scribble.
Drawing comes before writing.
Find the stage
MARK FIRSTletters later
CDC milestones follow children from scribbling at 18 months to a circle at 3, a person with three or more body parts at 4 and some letters of their name at 5, the hand skills that later carry the ABCs.
At a glance
- Big marks before small
- Ask what it means
- Grip comes with practice
- Drawing freely builds the hand for writing
≈ 1 in 10
People who are left-handed
A 2020 set of meta-analyses in Psychological Bulletin put the best overall estimate of left-handedness at 10.6%, so in a typical classroom of 20, about two children may be left-handed.
HANDEDNESS · PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN
7,752 pairs
Twin pairs whose drawings were scored
Four-year-olds drew a child, scored 0 to 12 for features such as head, eyes and arms. Scores were moderately linked with later test results, and the lead author said parents should not worry if a child draws badly.
DRAW-A-CHILD · KING'S COLLEGE LONDON
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Drawing is common,
and so is variety.
One figure on which hand children draw with,
one on a large study of four-year-olds' drawings.
In the King's College London study, the correlation between drawing at 4 and intelligence scores at 14 was 0.20, which the researchers described as moderate. Drawing ability does not determine intelligence.
A QUICK STAGE CHECK
What are they
drawing now?
Pick what you see on the paper to find where it sits in the CDC's developmental milestones. The bar shows how much pencil control the stage asks for.
Based on CDC milestones (what 75% or more of children can do by an age) and AAP guidance. Children develop at different rates; this is general information, not a developmental assessment.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Free drawing is
the warm-up for writing.
Hand skills build step by step.
Whole-arm movement comes before fine finger control.
SHAPES AND PEOPLE
From circle to person
By 3, most children can draw a circle when shown how. By 4, most draw a person with three or more body parts, even if the legs stick out of the head.
See the research
BIG MOVEMENTS
Arms before fingers
An article in NAEYC's journal describes fine motor skills starting with whole-arm movement, such as painting with rollers, before the fingers take over.
Ideas to try
FOUR IDEAS TO TRY
Lots of marks,
no pressure.
None of these needs special supplies. They follow how hand skills build, from the whole arm to the fingertips.
Go big first
Paint with rollers or big brushes, or chalk on the sidewalk: whole-arm movement is the first stage of fine motor development.
Draw under the table
Tape paper to the underside of a table and let children lie beneath it with crayons or chalk, an idea from NAEYC's journal for building whole-arm movement.
Ask what it means
Show interest in the meaning a child gives a drawing and talk about it together, rather than correcting it. To them, the figure with legs from its head is a person.
Pinch with tongs and clothespins
Clipping clothespins, stringing beads and picking things up with tongs build the thumb, index and middle finger work that later supports a pencil.
FROM DRAWING TO WRITING
Letters come
last.
The CDC's milestones place writing some letters of their own name at age 5, after scribbling, circles and people. Each milestone describes what most children, 75% or more, can do by that age, so many get there sooner and some later.
The tripod that finally steadies a pencil is the thumb, index and middle finger working together. Huffman and Fortenberry describe it as the last stage of a progression that starts with the whole arm, then the hand, then the pinch.
Questions
Questions people ask
When do children start drawing?
Most children scribble by 18 months, according to the CDC's milestones. The AAP describes children at first playing randomly with craft materials and then giving their scribbles a meaning.
What is a tripod grip?
The thumb, index and middle fingers working together as a tripod to support the pencil, as described in NAEYC's Young Children journal. By 4, most children at least hold a crayon between fingers and thumb rather than in a fist.
When should a child draw a person?
By 4, most children draw a person with three or more body parts, according to the CDC. Figures may have no body and legs sticking out of the head; children develop at different rates.
Does it matter if my child is left-handed?
Around 1 in 10 people are left-handed, according to a 2020 set of meta-analyses that put the best overall estimate at 10.6%, so a left-handed child is in plenty of company.
Do children's drawings predict how clever they will be?
A King's College London twin study found a moderate link between drawings at 4 and test scores at 14. The lead author said parents should not worry if a child draws badly: drawing ability does not determine intelligence.
Sources
Where the facts come from
- CDC: Milestones by 18 months
- CDC: Milestones by 3 years
- CDC: Milestones by 4 years
- CDC: Milestones by 5 years
- American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org): Hand and Finger Skills of Your Preschooler
- Huffman and Fortenberry, Developing Fine Motor Skills, Young Children (NAEYC), September 2011
- King's College London: Children's drawings indicate later intelligence (2014)
- University of Bristol: Human handedness, a meta-analysis (Psychological Bulletin, 2020)
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