“I’m bored, Mum!”
I don’t know what to do, Dad!”
Heard that before? There is one great answer to boredom – have pencils and paper at the ready and get your children drawing. Often you will only have to place the materials in front of them and they will be off, creating pictures and worlds of their own.
Otherwise be ready and prepared. Suggest a town scene with cars, shops and buses, or the seaside, jungle, zoo, space, what you did over the weekend, Granny’s new hip operation, battle scenes – (Don’t worry about boys drawing battles. It’s better to be drawing battles than be fighting them. They can work out all the consequences of war on a sheet of paper.)
Don’t worry that they draw the same doe-eyed pony or fluffy rabbit over and over again – they are learning priceless skills of persistence, hand-eye coordination and concentration. Eventually, when they are satisfied, they will move on as something new grabs their attention.
Drawing keeps children quiet. While they are drawing, they improve their drawing skills so next time they will draw a bit better, work at it a bit longer and achieve a little bit more.
When they come and show you their masterpiece, just say, “Wow! Tell me all about it!” Then the story will unfold, as they explain how the drawing came together.
If they are unhappy with what they have drawn, suggest doing it again and see if they can get it right next time – maybe stick some fresh paper over the mistake and redraw? They are learning editing skills too!
Writing is just complicated drawing. Drawing is great practice for writing skills, providing freedom of imagination, planning skills and the habit of starting at the beginning, finishing at the end and filling a lot of interesting stuff in-between.
Don’t worry about tracing either – It’s not about style or content, it’s all about putting in the hours of practice manipulating a pencil – understanding the materials. Get them some grease proof paper and show them how to trace maps and symbols. If you don’t know how, there’s a helpful video below.
Make sure you have paper at hand. Don’t miss the moment. Get a good pencil sharpener – they do go blunt, you know, and may need a new blade or even replacing altogether. Try to keep sellotape and glue sticks available and up to date. ( Glue sticks can be freshened up with a few drops of water overnight.) Staplers are great for making books, but you can sew them together too! Drawing materials are cheap and probably the best investment you can ever make in your children’s future.
Filling those hours with drawing will improve your child’s powers of imagination no end and in the high tech world they are growing up in, imagination is going to be a premium skill.
They don’t have to grow up to be artists and you shouldn’t push them and dump great expectations on their shoulders – that is turning it into work – just let them have fun expressing themselves.
Drawing inevitably leads to writing and story making. Give your children pencils and paper and they won’t even know they are doing school work. It may not be on the curriculum, but drawing is probably the one thing that will significantly raise their school achievements over time.