Drawing is cool – oh yes it is!

Got a few bored kids at home?? Are they glued to their devices? Are they whingy, annoying, restless, disengaged?? 

Well – do not underestimate the power of DRAWING!!!!! It is such a simple process, that I think we often forget how fun it can be. Here are a few ideas to hopefully get you and your tribe off the couch, and into artist mode.

1. Still Life – set up a Dutch Masters inspired still life – lay out a draped tablecloth and grab a vase, plant, fruit, eggs, knick knacks – arrange in a way that looks interesting – get paper/ pencils for your mini makers, and get them sketching/ drawing – make it fun by setting a time limit to do a couple of quick sketches, perhaps one with their eyes closed, and then do a more detailed drawing, where the kids can look at the objects in a little more detail.

2. Portraits – be the sitter for your tribe, and let them all do a portrait of you. It is so fun, and can get a bit silly – but you will be surprised at how much they will enjoy trying to really look, and capture all of the detail ( just tell them to avoid the wrinkles)

3. Cartooning – this is all about exaggeration!! have your kids draw cartoons of each other, or of a family member, your dog or cat – just have them really exaggerate those features – BIG heads, small bodies, BIG eyes and mouths. Create a scene, talk about a name for your character. Perhaps they might love it so much they will create a comic strip.

4.Draw small – go on a found object walk to find small objects like a gum nut, a feather, a coin, a shell –  and have your kids look at all the little detail, and draw it onto a small piece of paper – working small can be lots of fun – you could even create drawings to fit inside a match box.

5. Draw big – this will only work if you have the space – but perhaps set up some large pieces of paper ( stick a bunch together if all you have is A4 paper) and go nuts – use a marker or pastels, and draw BIG – big shapes/ lines/ marks/ scribbles, or trace shapes or bodies. The joy of working BIG scale is big – kids love becoming really gestural with their marks.

You can use a range of things to draw with – pencils, biros, pens, markers, crayons, charcoal, pastels, mud, chocolate, whatever you can get your hands on. And you can draw ANYTHING!!! faces, insects, castles, ships, plants, pineapples, shoes, pets, people, houses………………you are only limited by your imagination.

Go grab those HB’s and whatever paper you can find – and lets get DRAWING!!!!!

Don’t forget we have our SATURDAY MORNING TERM 2 ART CLUB happening soon – the focus for the term will be DRAWING – different focus each week – hit this link to find out more.

Until next time – keep creating!

Tracy x