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

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(as of Jan 22, 2025 19:46:40 UTC – Details)

Engage children’s natural curiosity with this collection of 25+ process-driven drawing activities exploring essential art concepts and techniques.

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

For each project, she includes comprehensive guidance: a materials list, step-by-step instructions, suggested prompts, and full-color photographs of the process and finished examples.

Quick warm-up activities using simple materials help kids loosen up and build confidence. Drawing workshops offer deeper, layered explorations that introduce new materials, concepts, and techniques.

These highly engaging yet low-pressure projects encourage multi-sensory observation and creative independence. Children will have fun as they practice:

Creating tones by filling a page in with charcoal and then using different types of erasers to draw a still-life.Using their senses to understand a subject by choosing a fruit and drawing different versions of it as they eat it.Interpreting foreground and background by drawing a background world with colored pencils, which they glue to the bottom of a mint tin, and then drawing a foreground subject, which they place near the front of the tin.Drawing a bird’s eye view by using their imagination to draw a treasure map in pencil and watercolor.Focusing on patterns by drawing colorful feathers with chalk and marker, then cutting them out and pasting them to other shapes to make birds.
With tips for working with groups, a glossary of essential terms, and an overview of recommended materials, this book is a complete resource for creating art with kids.

Whether you are a classroom teacher, a homeschool instructor, a camp organizer, a parent or grandparent looking to engage your kids in a screen-free activity, or even an adult seeking ways to explore your creative side, Drawing Workshop for Kids is your answer and guide to the question, “But what should I draw?”

From the Publisher

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

Mirroring the philosophy of our studio, Drawing Workshop for Children is a collection of drawing projects using a wide variety of drawing materials, including ink, watercolor, charcoal, and pencil, to allow for experimentation and exploration of both the materials and drawing techniques. Ranging from mark making to shadow, composition, and perspective, these activities are meant to create great drawing experiences where children can further their knowledge and skills. Drawing is such an incredible way for children to find their own creative voice. All one really needs is a pencil and paper. I propose drawing projects that embrace the simple pleasure of the paper and pencil while also introducing new materials to explore, offering children the opportunity to try out some new techniques.

WARM-UP DRAWINGS

Drawing Huge: GESTURAL MARK MAKING

Gestural drawing focuses on quick movements and marks while looking at the whole subject rather than focusing on the details. It’s about capturing the essence of the figure and not getting bogged down with every minute detail.

Shadow Drawings: FILLING THE PAGE

Sometimes creating large-scale drawings is challenging for children. This project uses shadows found in nature or in the neighborhood as the subject. The shadows are a great gateway to learning how to draw large because they cover the entire page. Encourage the children to slow down during this drawing process and trace the shadows’ curves and edges. This drawing warm-up can be a meditative exercise that fosters focus.

Eat and Draw: USING OTHER SENSES

This warm-up exercise uses the sense of taste to accentuate the drawing experience. By using other senses to understand a subject, a child can see new ways of perceiving the subject, adding another layer of exploration to the drawing.

DRAWING WORKSHOPS

Half and Half: USING MAGAZINE IMAGES

This drawing project combines imaginative drawing with observational drawing. The idea is that the children imagine and draw the rest of their chosen magazine image.

Sfumato: CREATING DEPTH OF FIELD

This project is a combination of both observational drawing and imaginative drawing. Sfumato means “to evaporate like smoke” in Italian. As objects fade lightly into the background they appear farther away. This technique of rendering gradations of light and dark areas to show perspective is another one of Leonardo DaVinci’s inventions.

Above and Below: EXPLORING COMPOSITION

For this drawing activity, encourage the children to draw a vegetable at life size. This can help them coordinate the speed of their drawing with the speed of their eye movements as they look at their subject. It can also aid in evaluating and practicing scale.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quarry Books (April 20, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1631599437
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1631599439
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 2 – 3
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.63 x 0.5 x 10 inches