The graphic routines of closed and open shapes: children's drawing strategies on a touchscreen

Abstract

How do children plan their drawing on a touchscreen? Studies have shown that children follow a certain graphic rules and routine in their drawing. We are at the start of investigating how children of different ages plan their drawing strategies on a touchscreen, particularly looking into the graphic routines of 14 basic shapes. 33 children from the age of 5 to 12 years old were recruited to draw a closed and open shapes in our touch drawing tool. We found that children tend to draw circle and square shapes in a clockwise order, spiral and semi-circle shapes in right-to-left direction and wave to zhee shapes in left-to-right direction. We hope to inform designers to build a touch interaction tool for children according to their motor strengths. We wish data quantified accurately can help us contribute to areas such as visual processing information as part of children psychological development growth.