Abstract
The present study investigated the role of mother-child collaborative drawing in children’s creations of recognizable representations. Thirty-two 4- and 5-yearolds played a cooperative game with their mothers in which they were instructed to take turns drawing pictures of farm animals for the other to guess. Mothers and children often talked about their drawings, and many aspects (e.g., discussing features essential for identifying referents) of these conversations were related to microgenetic changes (over the course of the game) in the sophistication of children’s pictures. Children also appropriated features from their mothers’ drawings into their own drawings over the course of the game. This was particularly the case for “rudimentary” drawers. Results demonstrate that young children learn to create graphic representations through utilizing information from their mothers’ drawings and from conversations with their mothers about drawings, although the extent of children’s learning is related also in part to their level of drawing performance.
Recommended Citation
Braswell, Gregory S. and Callanan, Maureen A.
(2003)
"Learning to Draw Recognizable
Graphic Representations During
Mother-Child Interactions,"
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Vol. 49:
Iss.
4, Article 5.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/mpq/vol49/iss4/5