The first stage of preschool drawing is characterized by an enthusiasm for using crayons and markers to make strokes on paper. The whole shoulder is often used and his small muscle control is not fully developed. He may grasp the marker or crayon with his fist, which makes it difficult to place the marks exactly where he wants them. Sometimes the crayon misses the paper, and sometimes he may not press hard enough to make a mark. It looks like an enjoyable kinesthetic activity, where there is no conscious attempt at portraying the visual world.
Around her second birthday, a preschooler has developed control over her hand movements and she is beginning to control the direction of her scribbling. The idea that the drawing is a representation of the world is becoming more obvious. She may ask you what she has drawn or name the objects in the picture. Toddlers are mesmerized with faces and you can often see what are called pre-tadpoles. Pre-tadpoles are either a picture where you cannot make out any shape or a picture where there is only a face, or face and feet. The tadpoles may be a way to represent what she sees. She may be looking down at her body and trying to draw the shape she sees. If you stretch out your arms and look down, you see your arms coming out of your head. The head and body appears to be one whole form.
A 3-year-old child is making conscious attempts to create a drawing. The thinking processes have developed and the idea to represent the world is shown by attempts to represent the world. The preschool drawings are fascinating and interesting rather than an accurate visual observation. He pays attention to details that can be exaggerated and distorted. A person may have an enormous head and thin lines for arms. The circle is used as a symbol to represent a wide range of ideas. His drawings of humans do not have any body. Instead, stick arms and legs protrude from the circle or head. You can often see representations of the sun, cats, dogs and houses.
Older children, 4- to 5-year-olds, like to tell stories about the pictures they have drawn. Questions related to how to draw different objects are being asked. She is changing the basic shape and exploring different ways to draw and express her view upon the world. The human figure is getting a body and she may draw ears, mouth, hands and feet. She draws what she knows about the world, rather than how she sees the world. You may see preschool drawings of a house where both the inside and outside of the house is drawn, like an X-ray photo