“Did You See my School Playground?” Young Children’s Drawings as Reflection of Their Likes and Dislikes: A Qualitative Study

الملخص

This study aimed at exploring preschool children’s drawings as means of expressing their likes and preferences. The study adopted a qualitative methodology to achieve this aim, by analyzing Drawings of eighteen young children. The results revealed four groups of themes that children liked to draw: houses or parts of houses, schools or parts of schools, parks or parts of parks and an uncategorized group that contained miscellaneous drawings. Children tended to draw the places, people or things they felt they liked in their community. They also portrayed their own feelings and those of other people around them. It was concluded, based on those findings, researchers are recommended to adopt children’s drawings as a method of researching with children. Researchers are also advised to initiate dialogues with the image-maker, in order to get a deeper understanding of the intentions of image- creators , as recommended by  ‘Semiotics’ & ‘Auteur’ theories.