Tests of dimensional dominance with planometric stimuli in either the visual or haptic modality were given to 108 children, 36 from each of the grade levels preschool, kindergarten, and first. Visual dimensions were form and color; haptic dimensions were form and texture. Following initial dominance assessment, one-third of the subjects were presented familiar forms and novel colors (visually) or textures (haptically), one-third were presented novel forms and familiar colors or textures, and one-third were presented novel forms and novel colors or textures. Results indicated that the shift to form dominance occurred relatively later in the haptic modality (first grade) than in the visual modality (kindergarten). The effects of the novelty manipulation were opposite in the two modalities: Visually, introduction of novel color cues with familiar forms produced the greatest shift towards color dominance; haptically, introduction of novel form cues produced the greatest shift towards texture dominance. (Author)