Abstract
The present study analyzed the characteristics of the collage expression of 375 infants and small children (age range, 1 to 6 years) based on impressions. The following results were obtained : 1) After the age of 4 and 5 years, children produced pieces with high levels of stability and expression, but the levels of stability and expression were lower for six year-olds ; 2) Our impressions were that stability was high for 4- and 5-year-old girls and expression was high for 3- and 5-year-old girls, while creativity was high for 4- and 5-year-old boys ; 3) As an age-related characteristics, after the age of 4 years, children tended to create pieces that are orderly, beautiful, futuristic, have backgrounds or meanings, and after the age of 3 years, children tended to produce outward-looking pieces ; 4) Girls were more likely to create beautiful pieces, and 4- and 5-year-old boys often produced animalistic expressions ; The present findings clarify the developmental characteristics and gender differences in the collage expression of infants and small children, thus suggesting the usefulness of collage expression as an assessment tool for understanding infants and small children.
