DRAWING PROJECTS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Megan Snyders from DRAW Brighton takes us through different drawing activities suitable for the whole family, from drawing at your window, sensory drawings, and family portraits.
TOY DRAWING
The one-minute drawing challenge is a great way to encourage both kids to draw from life. This challenge works great on its own or as a warm-up before starting a longer drawing.
Before you start, your little one will need to select their subject to draw: a favourite toy works great. The challenge works best at a table, where the toy is roughly at eye-level.
Now the stage is set, it’s time to learn the rules: you’ve got to keep looking at the object the whole time while you draw it. That means no looking down at your paper until you finish drawing! Artists call this technique ‘blind contour drawing’. The final drawing won’t be perfect, but it will be a fun, lively and loose drawing in response to what you see.
Take it in turns to draw, while one person stays in charge of the timer (and catches out anyone peeking at their paper before the minute is up!) You can repeat this challenge a few times by drawing the toy at different angles. For a bonus round, have a go at to drawing each other’s portraits using this technique.
WINDOWSILL SILHOUETTES
When we’re home all day, everyday life can start to seem a little boring, especially for kids! This drawing exercise is all about taking something ordinary and looking at it again with fresh eyes. As much as the drawing itself will be important, this exercise is really about learning to see things in a different way. Silhouette drawings encourage us to pay attention to light, shadow and overall shapes of objects. Below are some tips on how to create a simple still life that children can follow along with.
- First, you’ll need to pick 2-3 objects in the house. Go for objects that have distinct and interesting shapes – plants, toys and kitchen utensils all make great subjects.
- Next, you’ll need to arrange your objects in a row on a windowsill. The light shining through the window will help to reveal the overall shapes of the objects, making it the perfect lighting for drawing silhouettes!
- Set yourself up so that you’re directly opposite the window. When you’re ready to draw, start with drawing a horizontal line for windowsill, then let your pencil travel around the outside edges of your objects. You’re looking for that boundary between the edge of the object and the light coming through the window. Keep going around the edges of the objects until all the silhouettes are captured.
- Finally, fill in the body of the objects with shading so that you create a nice contrast between the light coming through the window and the dark of the objects. And there you have it – a still life in silhouette!
MEMORY DRAWING
This drawing exercise is all about drawing from memory and works especially well as a greetings card to send to a loved one.
- Create a blank card by folding a piece of thick paper or card in half. Make sure you have an envelope of a corresponding size for posting off the finished piece.
- Now it’s time to draw! Ask the child to pick a fond memory and create a picture which tells the story. There are no rules for this exercise, just have fun with it! This might also be a nice time to look through old family photos together for inspiration.
- Once the picture is made on the front, all that’s left is to write a message inside the card and post it off.
