A three-phase longitudinal study was performed for children in different age groups. Since children who were included across two age groups showed similar and specific drawing characteristics, changes with growth were shown more clearly. The results revealed drawing characteristics specific to individual age groups, with the following major findings: in children aged 3 years and 6 months to younger than 5 years, the frequency of expression of the eyes and limbs was significantly higher; in those aged 4 years and 6 months to younger than 6 years, the frequency of expression of the nose was lower and that of more realistic limbs was higher; and in those aged 5 years and 6 months to younger than 7 years, the frequency of expression of clothes was higher, and that of more realistic limbs was lower. These findings suggest that children begin to draw a picture mainly based on their physical sense, and then gradually move to expression mainly based on visual sense, as they are affected by surrounding cultural backgrounds and living environments. This suggests that they might then find it more difficult to draw their body shapes. In the analysis with a new version of the Draw a Man (DAM) test, there was no general decrease of IQ, in contrast to the results in a study with an old version of the DAM test. However, regarding sex difference, IQ of girls was higher than that of boys as they grew older. This might be because girls tended to draw pictures in detail due to their awareness of observation of themselves by others, and to draw patterned pictures because they were used to drawings of comic book characters in daily life. In the present family environment, it is difficult for children to accumulate experiences for development of physical sense and to obtain opportunities to cultivate deep relationships with others through mutual communications. Therefore, group activities at nursery schools may play a more important role in enabling children to develop physical sense through direct experiences in play and other senses in relationships with others. The results of this study on figure drawings by young children provide strong indicators of the required needs for growth of children.