Drawing, Part 2: More Drawing Games

What do adults remember most fondly about childhood "free art" time? 

Crafting? 
Easel painting? 
Modeling with clay? 
Watercolor?


What about drawing whatever you want, whenever you want? 

Free drawing, sketching, doodling, drawing to one's heart's content: these activities are the most fondly remembered type of choice-based art that adults did as children.

I believe children NEED to draw, especially when they are not yet able to fully express themselves verbally or through the written word. 

It is our job as parents and teachers to encourage the art of child-led drawing and to celebrate our children's drawing efforts.


In this class, we played a simple drawing game. 

Young artists were asked to choose a category and draw as many things within that category as they could think of. 

They were not taught how to draw the items; that was left up to them. 

Some chose to think of as many real objects as they could within a category, such as animals or insects. 

Others challenged themselves to think of as many types of an imaginary object as possible, like unicorns!

Some of the children titled their work or labeled their objects, and others left it up to the viewer to figure it out.


Interestingly, although some had more or less advanced drawing skills than others, no one seemed to notice. 

Their sole priority was focusing on finding solutions for and developing their own drawings. 

When finished, several of our young artists immediately started another drawing using a new self-chosen category. 

We have done a similar drawing project in the past. This time we all drew animals; sometimes from memory, and sometimes using visual resources if needed.