%0 Journal Article
%T Can Guided Play and Storybook Reading Promote ChildrenĄ¯s Drawing Development?
%A Jeremy E. Sawyer
%A Thalia Goldstein
%J Empirical Studies of the Arts
%@ 1541-4493
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0276237418777946
%X ChildrenĄ¯s drawings are implicated in their emotional, cognitive, artistic, and semiotic development, raising the question of how early educators may best facilitate drawing development. This study compared three activities to determine their relative efficacy in promoting childrenĄ¯s drawing. Seventy-seven preschoolers from a Head Start program were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: storybook reading, block building, or dramatic pretend play games (DPPG). Interventions were conducted over 8 weeks, and childrenĄ¯s free drawings during each session were rated on five dimensions: creativity, talent, spatial complexity, color, and human content. Taken together, the interventions produced significant growth in overall drawing, particularly for children who were initially more skilled at drawing. Comparisons indicated that storybook reading and block building generated significantly better overall drawing than DPPG. Story time was more beneficial than DPPG for creativity, talent, and spatial complexity, while block building was more beneficial than DPPG for childrenĄ¯s use of color
%K childrenĄ¯s drawing
%K preschoolers
%K guided play
%K storybook reading
%K early childhood education
%K block building
%K creativity
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0276237418777946