Young Children's Meaning-Making through Drawing and ‘Telling’

Abstract

YOUNG CHILDREN'S MEANING-MAKING is a multifaceted, complex experience, where thought, body and emotion unite. Rich and intricate creations are brought to life through children's formation, communication and interpretation of ‘signs’ which stand for or represent something else. The term drawing-telling is used to describe children's use of a range of signs when depicting imaginary worlds on paper, on the topic of what they think the future might be like. Such depictions include an expansive range of signs—narration, gesture, graphic depiction, onomatopoeia—often used in highly interactive ways.This paper illustrates, through examples of young children's drawings and transcripts of their ‘tellings’, the intertextual nature of their work. It foregrounds how adults must be sensitive to children's shifts between various subject positionings and the multiple functions that may be assigned to their depicted objects and events. Similarities between drawing-telling and filmic textual features are featured to assist adults in understanding children's meaning-making.