ABSTRACT
So far I have presented rather an orderly progression of development from scribbling or simple shapes, to tadpole figures, to transitional figures (for some but not all children) and then to conventional figures. There are indeed many children who fit this orderly pattern (see Figures 24, 25, 28 and 34). There are others for whom the pattern is broadly true but not quite so clear-cut, and others for whom it is very messy. For those children whose progression is very orderly they seem to move from one distinct ‘stage’ to the next. While in the tadpole stage, for example, all their figures are tadpoles; then they draw only transitional figures and finally only conventional figures. Each stage seems to be ‘of a piece’ and a step forwards towards producing more and more mature figures.
