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CHAPTER III

DRAWING

Inasmuch as the principal aim of this chapter will be to illustrate the early stages of the child's penciling and drawing, the figures which follow will form the chief point of whatever interest or attention the chapter may have. The figures are selected from a large number of pencilings and drawings which R. made during his second and third years.

STAGES IN R.'S LEARNING TO DRAW

First stage,—crude, imitative hand-flourishes.—Among civilized peoples, the child's early penciling and drawing have their roots in the imitative impulse. Pencil in hand, the child will strike or punch at paper laid before him in rough imitation of an older person writing or marking. He will use a stick, spoon, or other similar article in the same way. At first, the child does not see that the pencil and the marks are in any way related. Probably at first he does not see the marks. At any rate, he does not see that the pencil makes the marks.

In the last week of his first year, we for the first let R. have a lead-pencil and paper, at the same time making

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