Book Review – Drawing Workshop for Kids: Process Art Experiences for Building Creativity and Confidence

Help kids build confidence and find their own creative voice through this collection of 25+ invitations for drawing.

In Drawing Workshop for Kids, art educator Samara Caughey, founder of the highly praised family-centered art studio Purple Twig, shares drawing activities that support the development of creative, confident children ages 7 and up.

All kids need to begin engaging in the pleasure of these simple yet inspiring drawing projects are a pencil and paper. Along the way, new materials are introduced, giving kids the opportunity to experiment with new techniques.

Each of the three main chapters—drawing from life, drawing from images, and inventive drawing—focuses on techniques to explore, such as observation, mark making, shadow, line, composition, detail, contour, and perspective.

Drawing Workshop for Kids strives to inspire children to investigate drawing and develop their own approach to art, building creativity and confidence.

Here are some FAQs for teaching your child to draw, including one on whether a child needs natural drawing talent:

Q: How can I teach my child to draw?
A: You can start by encouraging them to draw frequently, providing them with drawing materials such as pencils, markers, and paper, and giving them simple drawing prompts to get them started.

Q: What age should my child start learning to draw?
A: Children can start learning to draw as early as age two or three, but it is never too late to start.

Q: Does a child need to have natural drawing talent to learn to draw?
A: No, natural drawing talent is not required to learn to draw. Drawing is a skill that can be learned and developed with practice and patience.

Q: How can I encourage my child to keep drawing?
A: You can encourage your child to keep drawing by praising their efforts, displaying their artwork, setting up a designated drawing space, and providing them with new drawing challenges and materials.

Q: What are some simple drawing prompts to get my child started?
A: Simple drawing prompts could include drawing their favorite animal, drawing their family, drawing a landscape or still life, or drawing a character from a book or movie they enjoy.

Q: Should I correct my child’s drawing mistakes?
A: It is important to focus on the effort and creativity put into the drawing rather than perfection. Instead of correcting mistakes, encourage your child to keep trying and experimenting with new techniques.

Q: How can I help my child learn new drawing techniques?
A: You can help your child learn new drawing techniques by providing them with drawing books, watching tutorials together, or enrolling them in art classes or workshops.

After talking about the pirate themed chalk obstacle course the other day, I got to thinking about other easy, low prep games and activities you can do with kids outside. A lot of these are ideas I found on Pinterest that don’t link to blogs anymore if they ever did, but often that’s all the detail you need to figure out what’s going on.

First, a couple from blogs that are still alive. If you have a lot of trees in your yard or in your park, you probably also have a lot of sticks, so you can pretty easily do this stick maze activity from Mother Natured. Build the maze yourself or have one child build if for another. Either way it’s lots of fun and you can keep it built to use as a labyrinth or for pretend play.

If it’s hot where you live you might want outdoor activities that involve water like this fill the bucket relay game. The only thing you might not have at home is giant sponges, but this is still pretty low prep, inexpensive and lots of fun if you have two or more kids to play. Check out how to do it from The Resourceful Mama. And check out my post all about ice and water sensory activities for more ideas to beat the heat.

Make some x’s and o’s or use something you already have to be your game pieces (you can also just draw them on paper plates for a super fast version) and make a large tic tac toe board on the sidewalk. The bonus of reusable game pieces is kids can play with the same grid over and over, which is great if you don’t have a ton of space.

I also love the idea of drawing a big bullseye on the sidewalk or driveway and using beanbags or sponges to try to hit the target. If you have hula hoops you can also set them in a grassy area and have kids try to hit them.

Check out more fun outdoor games for kids from The Printable Princess. These are more for big groups of kids, but if you’ve got a classroom full these are good ones to have on hand for getting some energy out.

Do you have favorite outdoor games for kids to play when it’s hot? I’d love to hear about them!

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