Stages of Development

Adelynn Torchia, Max Velez, Sophia Strazinsky, Kiarra

Roundtree
Donald and Barbara Herberholz
They are the coauthors of Artworks for Elementary Teachers which was first
published in 1964 and is on its ninth edition as of 2001. This text was made for
nonart majors who plan to teach art to children, providing experiences in knowing
how to create and respond to art.

Donald W. Herberholz- taught in the Art Department of California State University

for 35 years. He welded sculpture as well as film strips on puppetry and printmaking.

Barbara Herberholz- She was also named by the National Art Education Association
as California’s Outstanding Art Educator, and California’s Outstanding Elementry
Art Educator. She originated the Art Docent Program and trains parent volunteers
to teach response and production activities in Elementary schools.
Key Stages of Children’s Artistic
Development
● Stage One: Making Marks: 2-4 Years
● Stage Two: Making Symbols: 4-8 years
● Stage Three: Realism: 8-12 years
Stage One: Making Marks 2-4 Years of age
Manipulation/Scribbling
● Uncontrolled, Kinesthetic
● Controlled, repeated, longitudinal, circular
● Naming Marks
● Color important but not related to object
● Process is more important than product
Stage One
Examples:
2-4 years old

Materials Used:
Markers, Crayons, Chalk,
Pencils, Paint Brushes,
Collaging, and Dough.
Takeaways for 2-4 year old students

● A Student 2 years of age, will enjoy kinesthetic pleasure of moving his or her
hand around the while holding a crayon or marking pen.
● Students 2 years of age will enjoy arranging, cutting, and manipulating art
materials.
● Will start including “imagination” into their scribbling and will refer to their work
as “mommy, daddy, or me”
● The linear or circular symbols will expand into being referred to as objects like
“tree and house”.
Stage Two: Making Symbols 4-8 years
Symbolic/Schematic Stage
● Figure:
○ Head/feet; closed shapes with lines; radial configurations
○ Body usually made up of geometric shapes
○ Works largely from memory rather than direct observation
○ Shows emotionally and physically significant concepts, exaggeration or
omission of body parts, concentration of details on important parts.
● Space:
○ Little or no overlapping
○ Random placement of items in picture space
○ Simple baseline appears
■ Deviations: bent, multiple, mixture of plane and elevation, x-ray,
foldover
Stage Two
Examples:
4 - 6 years

● Begin using tools: glue, scissors, clay, etc. And

texture is important
● Most frequently draw people
● At first everything floats with no spatial
relationship, around 5 years this begins to
change
Stage Two Examples:
6-8
● They wantYears
to tell stories.
● To increase cognitive awareness of color, point out correct colors in the drawing. ie: “nice drawing of a
brown dog,” and have them describe colors
● Draw one symbol at a time. They draw what they logically know, not what they are perceiving. ie: Line
for the sky. To help them develop their pictorial space by giving them different scenarios to draw ex:
climbing a mountain, picking apples, diving under the sea, etc.
Stage Three: Realism 8-12 years

● More attention to body proportion, action of figure, details of

clothing
● Closer observation of environment; gradual disappearance of
baseline and emergence of horizon; shadows, shading may
appear
● Shows depth through diminishing sizes and overlapping
● Uses realistic colors
● More critical of own work
Stage Three: Examples

10 years old

9 years old

10 years old
Stage Three: Examples
cont.

10 years old

8 years old
Stage Three: Takeaways for Teachers

● Children are ready for instruction on how to draw more realistically

● Teachers should provide experiences that develop the children's
perceptual skills and many opportunities for students to draw from
direct observation (still life, linear perspective, contour drawings)
● Students are ready to learn about visual space and perspective
● Children insistent on using realistic colors (color wheel, mixing)
● Children need to learn realistic drawing skills at this stage or they may
stop drawing out of frustration
Questions?