Psychology of children's drawings: meaning, decoding and analysis

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Self-expression is of great importance in the life of every person. Children satisfy this need through drawing. Many parents understand this and themselves constantly buy paints, felt-tip pens, pencils and albums for their baby. Taking them in hand, the children begin to selflessly and with great pleasure apply various images to paper. This process allows them to communicate their emotions. At this moment, a reflection of their feelings and experiences is transferred from the inner world.

What do children's drawings mean in psychology? How to know the inner world of a small person?

Drawings of children of different ages

It often happens that parents of children attending kindergarten are given a conclusion by a psychologist that their child has a rejection of the outside world, aggression and anxiety. At the same time, moms and dads are completely bewildered, because the main reason for this conclusion was only the cute scribbles of their baby.

How to decipher children's drawings? Psychology suggests analyzing them depending on the age of the young artist.

So, up to three years old, the images left by babies on paper look like “cephalopods”. Children draw people in the form of bubbles, from which dashes stick out, which are symbols of legs and arms. Young artists still cannot draw details at this age. In addition, at first another “masterpiece” appears on paper, and only after that the author begins to think out what exactly he was depicted.

After 3, 5-4 years old, children already begin to plan it before creating a drawing. And only after the mental design of the plan, they proceed to the execution itself. A child at 4 years old has already learned to use a pencil well. At the same time, his "heads" gradually evolve into people depicted as cucumbers. The little people begin to look like two ovals with stick-like limbs.

After reaching the age of 5, young artists are already capable of drawing large details. These are the mouth, eyes, legs and arms. By the age of six, smaller elements can be seen in children's drawings. This is a man's nose and fingers.

And only by the age of seven young artists "dress" people according to their age and gender. Their characters get hairstyles, hats and necks.

What do specialists take for their analysis? The most accurate deciphering of children's drawings in psychology is possible when studying images printed on paper by young artists of 4-7 years of age, because they are performed most consciously.

Family Picture

The most popular topic for analyzing children's drawings in psychology is the image by a young artist of the people closest to him. To an experienced specialist, it will tell a lot. At the same time, parents can learn a lot from such a drawing.

Studying the psychology of children's drawings, you need to pay attention to some details. Among them:

• sequence of drawing the image on paper;
• plot of the picture;
• location and grouping of family members;
• degree of proximity and remoteness of people;
• the place of a child among adults;
• growth of each family member;
• color scheme of the picture, etc.

Exploring some features of considering the psychology of children's drawings.

Question of task completion

Most often, after the child has received the installation on the image of the family, he begins to draw all its members, and only after that he completes his picture with various details. However, sometimes things don't work out that way. The young artist begins to focus his attention on any details, "forgetting" to draw himself and his relatives. Or images of people on paper appear only after the outlines of secondary objects and objects are applied to it. In this case, adults need to think. Why is the child doing this? What is the reason for such indifference to relatives? Why is he trying to delay time until the moment of their image?

Analysis of a child's drawing of a family in psychology in this case is impossible without leading questions. The specialist needs to clarifythe nature of relationships with relatives, while applying various techniques.

Usually, the use of such a sequence when solving the task at hand indicates the mental discomfort of the child in the family and that the young artist is involved in conflict relations.

Plot of the picture

As a rule, building an image with relatives is extremely simple. The child tends to portray his family in the same way as in a group photo. At times, everyone is present. And sometimes one of the family members is not in such a picture. It happens that each of those present in the picture is standing on the floor or on the ground, and sometimes a young artist depicts people close to him as if hanging in the air.

Also in the plot of the picture, in addition to family members, grass turns green, flowers bloom, trees and bushes grow. It is not uncommon for children to depict someone in the house and someone outside. In addition to group portraits, there are drawings filled with dynamism and expression, in which all family members are engaged in some kind of business.

What is the interpretation of children's drawings in psychology with different subjects? Everything is pretty simple here. If a family is associated in a baby with tender and pleasant memories, then he will certainly illuminate all relatives or one of them with the sun, which serves as a symbol of love, kindness and affection. But sometimes the young artist places clouds over group portraits. Psychologists associate a similar plot with the discomfort of the child.

Sequence of people arrangement

Usually firstin the child's drawing appears the person who for him is the most beloved, most authoritative and significant in the house. Sometimes a young artist considers himself to be such. And he will not hide it by showing his figure first.

Further, when deciphering a child's drawing of a family in psychology, they adhere to the principle that the child arranges all family members in the order in which he sees their role in the house, and also what is their attitude towards him. With an increase in the serial number of a relative, his authority, no doubt, falls. That is why children, intuitively feeling unwanted and rejected by their parents, portray themselves as the latest.

The size of the figures

What do children's drawings say in psychology? Experts also pay attention to the size of the figure of each of the family members depicted by the child. The larger they are, the more authority the relative has in the eyes of the young artist. Often, young children depict the person closest to them in such a way that they simply do not have enough paper to accommodate his entire figure.

The psychology of a child's drawing of a person allows you to determine the specialist and that family member who, in the eyes of the baby, enjoys the lowest authority. The size of his figure, as a rule, is much smaller than that of other relatives. That is why neglected and neglected children paint themselves tiny and barely noticeable. By this they emphasize their insignificance and uselessness.

Distance between figures

The analysis of the psychology of children's drawings is also carried out on the basis of what is the valuespaces between family members. Such a moment may indicate either their emotional closeness, or, on the contrary, their disunity. The farther all the figures in the children's drawing are from each other, the more we can talk about the presence of a conflict situation in the family.

Sometimes children emphasize this disunity even more. They place any foreign objects in the spaces formed between the figures of relatives.

With emotional closeness, all family members in the drawings of young artists are depicted almost close to each other. At the same time, psychologists also consider the degree of attachment of the child to one of the relatives. With emotional closeness to a certain family member, the baby will depict himself near him.

Finding the child in the picture

At this point, when considering the psychology of a child's drawing of a family, special attention should be paid. The place that the child has allocated for himself indicates his position among relatives. If the baby is in the center and stands between dad and mom, and also draws himself first, then he is sure that he is needed by close people. If in the image of the family the young artist depicted himself after his sisters and brothers and at the same time away from his parents, this is a sign of jealousy that he shows to other children. By distancing himself from everyone, the baby thereby shows that he is superfluous in the house and no one needs him.

Missing a child in the picture

In the psychology of a child's drawing of a family, one of the important points is the fact thatwhen a young artist "forgets" to portray himself. In this case, adults need to look for the cause in the existing relationships in the house. Most likely, they are not exemplary at all and are painful for the child.

The image of a family in which there is no youngest artist may be a confirmation of the existing conflict between him and someone from the household. With his drawing, a kid who does not like rejection in the family displays his protest reaction.

Absence of a parent or relative

In the psychology of children's drawings, every detail matters. Experts will certainly pay attention to the fact that the young artist "forgot" to display on paper one of his parents or close relatives. Most likely, this family member is a source of torment, worries and discomfort for the child. “Forgetting” to draw a certain relative, the baby suggests a way out of the current life situation, which will help defuse the negative atmosphere in the house. Sometimes in this way the child “eliminates” competitors, thereby trying to extinguish his jealousy towards other children.

Complementing the family with other people

What else can the psychology of children's drawings tell us? Sometimes a young artist completes his picture with strangers or non-existent relatives. Thus, he tries to fill the vacuum in his feelings. Also, a fictional person is used as a buffer to alleviate feelings of inferiority among relatives. Sometimes children fill such a vacuum with those individuals who, in their opinion, can get along withthem close contacts and satisfy communication needs. This leads to the fact that the kids begin to model the composition of the family, suggesting its improvement and improvement through the drawing.

Sometimes a young artist supplements his drawings not with strangers, but with animals or birds. Most often in such images you can see dogs and cats devoted to man. If these animals are not in the house and they are fictional, then adults should understand that the baby is dreaming about them. At the same time, he wants a dog or a cat to replace his missing relative in the image.

Adults should think about such a plot. It is a symptom of a lack of communication necessary for the baby, an insufficient amount of affection and tenderness for him.

Picture of one child

Interpretation of children's drawings in psychology is one of the main methods of understanding the inner world of babies. Images in which the young artist draws himself alone are alarming experts. A similar plot suggests that the baby does not feel like a full-fledged member of the family and believes that there is not enough space for him in the house. Most often, in such drawings, such a state of the child is also expressed in gloomy colors.

Sometimes young artists depict only themselves in order to emphasize their own importance. This is done, as a rule, by the idols of the family, who are not able to hide their egocentrism. However, their images differ from the drawings of rejected children by self-admiration. You can understand this by detailing and coloring.clothing or secondary items that create a festive mood.

Illustration of body parts

How to analyze a child's drawing? Psychologists also pay attention to how the young artist showed the faces of people, as well as other parts of the body. The most informative in this case is the image of the head. If the author skips certain parts of the face or puts only one of its contours on paper, then this is an expression of the baby's protest against these family members. It is possible that it is because of them that the baby is overwhelmed with negative emotions.

If a young artist depicted his face without a mouth and eyes, then this is a sign of his alienation in the family, as well as a violation of communication with people around him.

In the case when we see only eyes in the image of one of the family members, then, most likely, this person is constantly watching the baby and does not allow manifestations of pranks and pranks. The same relative is a source of various conflict situations for the child. Similarly, you can analyze the drawing, in which one of the family members is depicted with ears, like Cheburashka. Sometimes a young artist distinguishes only one mouth from a relative. This means that this person brings up the child, reading him endless moralizing and lectures, while cultivating fear in the child.

If the young artist paid the most attention to the head and drew all its details, then this indicates the significance of this loved one for him. If the child likes to portray himself in this way, then this indicates that he is too preoccupied with his ownappearance. Sometimes young artists, using a similar technique, brighten up their physical defect. And if a girl painted her face in all details? She is most likely imitating her mother, who often smoothes her hair, powders her nose and tints her lips in front of her eyes.

In addition to the head, when studying children's drawings, you need to pay attention to the hands. If they are disproportionately long, then most likely they belong to that family member who is aggressive towards the young artist. Sometimes a baby can portray such a relative without hands at all. In this way, he is trying to symbolically extinguish aggression.

If an armless child portrayed himself, this is a confirmation of his impotence in the family and his lack of voting rights.

Colours

What do the tones of colors that the young artist uses in his work say? Colors in drawings in child psychology are considered as an indicator of the palette of feelings that a baby radiates at the moment of memories of his loved ones depicted on paper. In the choice of colors, one can consider the nuances and peculiarities of the emotional attitude of the young artist to certain household members or to the whole family at once. All anxieties and doubts, hopes, loves and dislikes of a child are encoded in the colors he uses.

Everything that the baby likes, he will portray in warm colors. He will highlight his attachment to a certain relative with the help of a bright and juicy color. Cold tones in the drawings are a confirmation of conflictsituations. Most of all in this case the black color is informative. It indicates the emotional rejection by the baby of the relative whom he included in the plot of his image.

Color values in a child's drawing are distributed by psychologists as follows:

• green is an expression of security, aspiration, perseverance, independence and balance;
• dark blue - the need for peace;
• red expresses aggression, willpower, excitability and increased activity;
• yellow indicates heightened emotions, optimism, curiosity and spontaneity;
• purple is considered an indicator of intuition and fantasy, intellectual and emotional immaturity;
• brown indicates negative emotions, physical discomfort, slowness and sensual support of sensations;
• black expresses protest, an urgent need for change and destruction.

If most of all a child loves a simple pencil and does not color his drawings in any way, this indicates his desire to close, about detachment and indifference.