Kinematic Analysis of Drawing Movements in Chinese Primary Schoolchildren

Drawing is an important fine motor activity, and school-age children are at an ideal age for developing fine motor skills. This study investigated the development of primary school children's kinematic skills in drawing using a three-dimensional force-sensitive tablet. From a primary school, Sixty children with typical handwriting processes were asked to complete drawing tasks on a digital tablet for kinematic data collection. Four types of shapes including horizontal lines, vertical lines, squares and circles, were used in drawing tasks. We studied a series of kinematic parameters, such as velocity, acceleration and three-dimensional handwriting force vector information. Results show that velocity and acceleration increased with the grade level for four types of tasks, while the mean force of the z-axis decreased in all tasks. Specifically, the writing force of the x-axis decreased significantly in the horizontal line drawing task, and the writing force of the y-axis decreased significantly in the vertical line drawing task. The parameters extracted and observed in this study are useful for studying the development and acquisition of drawing skills. These values can be used as references points to evaluate samples with different characteristics.