First published in 1983. In this comprehensive volume, Dr. Di Leo once again brings to the reader the fruitful combination of extensive knowledge of children's drawings and an approach to the subject that is intimate and humane, but highly sophisticated. Those familiar with his books have come to expect the lucid style with which Dr. Di Leo leads the clinician toward incisive interpretations of children's drawings, pointing out key features and using, where appropriate, parallels from the world of art and literature. His discussions of over 120 drawings reproduced in this volume cover an astonishing range of topics, including: Interpretation, Formal and Stylistic Features, Mostly Cognition (drawing a man in a boat), Mostly Affect (drawing a house), Projective Significance of Child Art, The Whole and Its Parts, Global Features, Body Parts, Sex Differ­ences and Sex Roles in Western Society as Perceived by Children, Laterality and Its Effects on Drawing, Tree Drawings, and Personality Traits, Emotional Dis­order Reflected in Drawings, Pitfalls, Role of the Arts in Education for Peace, and Reflections. In his analyses, Dr. Di Leo skillfully singles out examples of overinterpreta­tion and other pitfalls, and answers questions such as: What does the thera­pist do when the child refuses to draw the family? Is the drawing a self-image? What are the differences between regres­sive drawings compared with the immature drawings of normal children? Even such fascinating topics as art brut, creativity, madness, and child art are discussed. The reader will find thought-provoking both the author's astute analyses and his keen awareness of the influence of society on children and the pictures they draw. Therapists in the field will find the book remarkably penetrating, while students in the field will delight in its clarity and thoroughness. Every­one who works with the drawings of children will find it absorbing.

This book offers an illustrated introduction to understanding and fostering children's drawing. It examines step-by-step discovery of proportion and perspective, the typical early errors - the tadpole figures, chimneys sliding off roofs, the huge air gap between ground and sky - and explains why children often depict not what they see, but what they know is there. Art, argues Maureen Cox, can be used or abused in assessing personality and diagnosing problems. As long as we believe drawing is a mysterious gift, only very highly motivated children will make progress. She concludes by suggesting how parents and educators can help foster the talents of both ordinary and exceptionally gifted children.

This practical resource demonstrates how all clinicians can broaden and enhance their work with children by integrating drawing into therapy. The book enables therapists to address the multidimensional aspects of children's art without resorting to simplistic explanations. Approaching drawing as a springboard for communication and change, Malchiodi offers a wealth of guidelines for understanding the intricate messages embedded in children's drawings and in the art-making process itself. Topics covered include how to assist children in making art, what questions to ask and when, and how to motivate children who are initially resistant to drawing. Assimilating extensive research and clinical experience, the book includes over 100 examples of children's work.

Children Draw is a concise, richly illustrated book, aimed at parents, teachers, and caretakers, that explores why children draw and the meaning and value of drawing for youngsters—from toddlers aged two to pre-adolescents aged twelve. Informed by psychology and practical teaching with children, it guides readers through the progressive stages and characteristics of drawing development as children grow and change mentally, physically, socially, emotionally, and creatively. It offers parents tips about encouraging children to express their ideas visually, age-appropriate art materials, workspaces, and different media, as well as suggestions for making an art museum visit more meaningful—not to mention more fun—for both parents and kids. Packed with many delightful examples of children’s art, Children Draw is an essential book for parents interested in their child’s art activities.

The human figure is one of the earliest topics drawn by the young child and remains popular throughout childhood and into adolescence. When it first emerges, however, the human figure in the child's drawing is very bizarre: it appears to have no torso and its arms, if indeed it has any, are attached to its head. Even when the figure begins to look more conventional the child must still contend with a variety of problems: for instance, how to draw the head and body in the right proportions and how to draw the figure in action. In this book, Maureen Cox traces the development of the human form in children's drawings; she reviews the literature in the field, criticises a number of major theories which purport to explain the developing child's drawing skills and also presents new data.

This book is dedicated to all those who love children and their wonderful, often surprising, drawings. This means it addresses all those interested in their devel oping capacity to produce "iconic" signs: parents, teachers, child psychologists, artists, architects (since building drawings are treated here), and semioticians at large-to name but a few potential readers. Because of the broad audience, I tried to keep scientific jargon to a minimum. Whenever this was unavoidable, I tried to explain the terms in such a way that even beginners in psychology could understand my arguments. I received the first impulse to think about a book like this from the Interna tional Year of the Child declared by the UN in 1979. In a first phase of the project, I obtained drawings of the six different building types treated in this book from more than 100 children aged 3-12 years in Turkey during a stay there as part of the faculty of Architecture of the Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon under the auspices of the UN ESCO/UNDP program TUR/75/012. My special thanks go to Dr. Erdem Aksoy, then president of the university, and Dr. Ozgontil Aksoy, then dean of the faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, for their encouragement to carry out the project. I would also like to thank Dr. Kutzal Oztlirk, Sevinc Erttirk, Ali Ozbilen, Hasan Saltik, together with all the teachers in nursery and elementary schools in and around Trabzon who helped to collect the drawings.

The message of this book is a simple one: children learn to draw by acquiring increasingly complex and effective drawing rules. In this regard, learning to draw is like learning a language, and as with language children use these rules creatively, making infinite use of finite means. Learning to draw is thus, like learning a language, one of the major achievements of the human mind. Theories of perception developed in the second half of the 20th century enable us to construct a new theory of children's drawings that can account for their many strange features. Earlier accounts contained valuable insights, but recent advances in the fields of language, vision, philosophy, and artificial intelligence now make it possible to resolve the many contradictions and confusions inherent in these early writings. John Willats has written a book that is accessible to psychologists, artists, primary and junior schoolteachers, and parents of both gifted and normal children.