ABSTRACT
At approximately eighteen months of age the human child starts to draw. Mark-making activity at about this time is spontaneous. If paper and crayons or other suitable materials are made available the child will produce drawings. If not, no matter, the child will move his or her finger over a steamed up pane of glass, some dust on the floor, or the earth outside. This ability and eagerness to produce marks seems to be innate,
There has been an interest in the study of early child art since the close of the last century. Since that time authorities have studied and published accounts of the development of drawing skills in early childhood. One of the earliest accounts was by Herman Lukens who described the development in terms of chronological age (Lukens 1896). Other authors followed him. A full review of the literature to the present day is well out of the scope of this study. Table 4.1 shows in historical perspective how these theories of the development of art in childhood relate to each other.
