Drawing is a great family activity that helps develop creative thinking and problem solving skills. Creative kids need experiences to develop their skills just like reading books or practicing math at home.
I know how busy family schedules are but making time to slow down for a drawing activity can help develop your child’s creative thinking skills. This project can be as quick as 10 minutes or you can stretch it out as weekend activity. See how you can modify the project in the tutorial listed below.
Draw together! I recommend that you draw next to your child on your own piece of paper (but don’t draw on their paper)! By sitting together, you can spend quality time together and you are modeling how creative thinking works. Don’t worry if you can’t draw….your child will not judge your Picasso skills. I promise! However, your child will enjoy the quality time together and you may enjoy it too! Have fun with it.
Creative Kids Thinking Question:
How do you turn a drawing of a Shoe into a Fish?
Materials:
1 Shoe
Pencil
Paper
Crayons or Markers
Watercolor (optional)
Tutorial:
Step 1: Trace your shoe.
Place your shoe on paper and trace around the outside of the shoe.
(Drawing Tip: hold the pencil straight up and down while tracing).
Step 2: Brainstorm.
Talk about what makes a fish different from other animals. What features do they have (scales, fins, gills, eyes, mouth, etc.) This is a great time to pull out any fish books you may have as well. Brainstorm ideas on how to add these features to your drawing of a shoe.
Step 3: Add your fish features.
Step 4: Add Color.
If you are limited on time I suggest finishing your drawing with crayon or marker. If you have more time or wish to break the project into two activities try a watercolor crayon resist. Color the entire fish in with crayon and paint right over the fish with watercolor paint for the background. The watercolor will not stick to the crayon in the drawing and creates a great water finish for your shoe fish.
(Drawing Tip: You may wish to outline the fish with permanent marker before painting).
This project is great for all ages. I have done this project with children as old as 12 years old and they still enjoyed it. I love seeing the different creative solutions for each fish. No two shoe fish are the same.
For a writing extension have your child name the shoe fish and write about the features of their shoe fish.
It doesn’t take much (or a lot of time) to help your child develop their creative thinking skills.
For more creative drawing ideas check out 31 drawing prompts!
A great idea for inspiring some really good art. Our kiddos consistently get stuck on getting the shape “right” when they start a drawing, so much so that they miss out on the fun of creating some art. Thanks for sharing.
Renae
As an elementary art teacher I saw that all the time especially the older students. This project is a great way to bring some fun back into drawing. Thank you for sharing and commenting!