A Study on the Relationship between Children's Developmental Stages and Sense of Color

It is well known that human sensitivity to color and expressive ability varies with age and gender. In addition, the perception, understanding, and comprehension of color vary according to developmental stage and color-related experiences. This study is one approach to research to clarify the relationship between such "sense of color" as above and the developmental stages of children. In this study, the coloring behavior of teenage subjects; elementary school, junior high school, and university students, to coloring book images were investigated using iPads. The characteristics of coloring and color schemes used in the coloring books were analyzed to explore the relationship with the developmental stages of the children. The coloring book images, mandala-like patterns, used in the investigation were designed originally based on some preliminary investigations. In addition, the original palette of colors systematically arranged in hues and tones was specified to quantitatively analyze the characteristics of the colors used in the coloring book. The results showed that the hues of colors used with high frequency in coloring books changed as the developmental stage progressed and that the range of tones by the combination of saturation and lightness widened. It was also found that the color schemes were simple and easy to understand at younger ages, while the complexity of the color schemes increased as the children grew older.