Abstract
(Purposes) The purposes of this study were to clarify the developmental change of drawing skills in the preschool and school aged children by using quantitative method. (Subjects and Methods) One hundred nineteen children aged from 4 to 12 years old and 20 healthy adults participated in this study. They were instructed to draw a line carefully between two paralleled lines by using the pen built-in pressure monitoring device. Besides of the continuous measurement of the writing pressures and achievement times, we estimated the accuracy of drawing by calculating how far the lines were from the center of paralleled lines using original computer software. (Results) The drawing pressure increased until 7 years old and reached almost the same level as adults. On the other hand, achievement time was prolonged until 7 years old, and later the time was shortened. When we estimated the ratio of accuracy to achievement time, the ratio was gradually increased during the period of preschool and school age. (Conclusion) In the development of drawing skills, the accuracy was developed at the first step, and later the speed followed. The ratio of accuracy to achievement time might be a good scale for estimating drawing skills.
