From the Guidelines
Children's Developmental Milestones
Children typically draw squares before triangles in their developmental milestones.
Developmental Surveillance
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics 1, developmental surveillance is essential at all preventive care visits, and standardized developmental screening should be performed at ages 9,18, and 30 months. The provided table outlines the mean ages at which typically developing children achieve motor milestones, including fine motor skills such as drawing and building with blocks.
Fine Motor Skills
The evidence suggests that children typically begin to scribble spontaneously at around 18 months 1 and imitate horizontal and vertical lines at around 2.5 years 1. By 3 years, children can copy a circle drawing and draw a person with head and one other body part 1. However, there is no specific mention of drawing squares before triangles in the provided evidence.
Drawing Shapes
Although the exact sequence of drawing shapes is not explicitly stated in the evidence, it can be inferred that children's fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination improve over time, allowing them to draw more complex shapes. The fact that children can copy a circle drawing at 3 years and draw a person with 6 parts at 4 years suggests that they may be able to draw squares before triangles, but this is not explicitly confirmed by the evidence.
Clinical Implications
In clinical practice, pediatricians should be aware of the typical developmental milestones and monitor children's progress to identify any potential delays or deviations. If a child is not meeting their expected milestones, further evaluation and screening may be necessary to determine the underlying cause and provide appropriate interventions. However, the provided evidence does not specifically address the question of whether children draw squares before triangles, and therefore, this conclusion is based on general knowledge of child development rather than the specific evidence presented.
From the Research
Developmental Milestones in Children's Drawing
- The order in which children draw shapes, such as squares and triangles, is not explicitly addressed in the provided studies 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
- However, the studies suggest that children's fine motor skills and cognitive development play a significant role in their ability to draw and perform other tasks 3, 4, 5.
- For example, a study on typically developing children aged 3-6 years found that younger children used more primitive grips and manipulation techniques when performing tasks, whereas older children used more mature grips and in-hand manipulation 3.
- Another study on very preterm-born children found that their drawing skills at age 5 were related to their cognitive and motor development, with a positive correlation between drawing ability and both cognitive and motor skills 4.
- The interrelation between cognitive and motor development in typically developing children is underpinned by visual processing and fine manual control, with age and sex affecting the strength of this correlation 5.
- Implicit sequence learning, which underlies the acquisition of new skills, exhibits a rapid decrement around age 12, suggesting that children's ability to acquire new skills may be more effective until early adolescence than later in life 6.