In today’s digital world, keeping kids engaged in creative activities like drawing can be a challenge. Many parents are looking for ways to foster creativity while keeping their children away from excessive screen time. One of the best ways to do this is through fun, easy drawing exercises that not only entertain but also help improve kids’ artistic skills. In this blog, we’ll explore 10 creative drawing exercises that are perfect for kids and beginners, providing them with hours of artistic fun!
1. Doodle Challenge
Exercise: Give your child a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. Ask them to doodle whatever comes to mind for five minutes without lifting their pencil. Encourage them to fill up the whole page with random lines, shapes, and squiggles.
How it helps: This freeform exercise helps unlock their imagination and reduces perfectionism, allowing creativity to flow naturally.
Tip: Keep a sketchbook on hand so kids can doodle whenever inspiration strikes.
Doodle Tutorial – This video shows how to turn simple doodles into creative illustrations that kids can follow along with.
2. Complete the Drawing
Exercise: Draw a simple, unfinished shape or pattern on a piece of paper (like half a face, part of a tree, or a random squiggle). Ask your child to finish the drawing in any way they choose.
How it helps: This exercise encourages creative problem-solving and teaches kids to look at shapes from new perspectives.
Tip: Use erasable markers for this exercise to give kids the freedom to experiment without worrying about mistakes.
Art For Kids Hub– A fun, interactive video that encourages kids to complete drawings using their imagination.
Website: Art for Kids Hub – Offers many creative prompts and tutorials for young artists to help complete drawings.
3. Drawing with Music
Exercise: Play different types of music (classical, jazz, pop) and ask your child to draw what they feel when listening to each song. They can use different lines, shapes, and colors to express the mood of the music.
How it helps: Drawing to music taps into emotional expression and encourages kids to explore abstract concepts.
Tip: Set up a playlist with a variety of music genres and provide a set of Crayola colored pencils to help kids match their art to the music’s mood.
How to Draw with Music – This video shows kids how to translate music into drawings by focusing on rhythm and mood.
4. Blind Drawing
Exercise: Ask your child to close their eyes or use a blindfold and draw something familiar, like a house, a pet, or a person, without looking. They can open their eyes after they’ve completed the drawing.
How it helps: This fun activity helps kids let go of perfectionism, boosting their confidence and encouraging them to embrace imperfection.
Tip: For extra fun, use a blindfold mask to make the experience feel like a real challenge!
Blind Contour Drawing for Kids – A great video that teaches kids how to have fun drawing without looking.
5. Scribble to Shape
Exercise: Have your child create a random scribble on the page. Then, look closely at the scribble and see if they can turn it into something recognizable, like an animal, face, or object.
How it helps: This exercise sharpens kids’ observation and creativity by training them to find patterns in randomness.
Tip: Keep a pack of fine-tip markers for better control and detail when transforming the scribble.
Turn a Scribble Into a Drawing – An engaging video that shows how to turn random scribbles into recognizable shapes or characters.
6. Draw Your Favorite Animal from Memory
Exercise: Without any reference images, ask your child to draw their favorite animal entirely from memory. Afterward, they can look up a picture of the animal and compare.
How it helps: This exercise challenges kids’ memory and imagination while strengthening their observation skills.
Tip: Pair this with a kids’ animal art book that teaches basic animal drawing techniques for extra learning.
7. Upside-Down Drawing
Exercise: Print out a simple drawing (like a cartoon character or a basic landscape) and tape it upside down on the table. Ask your child to try drawing it upside down.
How it helps: This activity forces the brain to focus on shapes and lines instead of preconceived ideas, improving accuracy and drawing skills.
Tip: Use large drawing paper to give kids plenty of space to work on this exercise.
8. Mix-and-Match Creatures
Exercise: On a piece of paper, draw three sections: the head, body, and legs. Ask your child to draw different parts of a creature in each section (they can combine different animals, like a lion’s head, an elephant’s body, and a bird’s legs). Fold the paper after each section is drawn, so they can’t see the previous part.
How it helps: This game-like exercise encourages creativity and shows that art can be fun and unpredictable.
Tip: Have a set of crayons ready to color the wild and wacky creations!
Draw a Crazy Creature – A fun and quirky video that guides kids through creating wacky, mix-and-match creatures.
9. Texture Drawing
Exercise: Take a piece of paper and place it over textured surfaces around your house or outdoors, like a leaf, coin, or fabric. Have your child rub over the paper with a crayon to capture the texture.
How it helps: This hands-on activity introduces kids to the concept of texture and helps them explore their environment in a new way.
Tip: Use crayons with multiple colors for more exciting textures and patterns.
Rubbing Texture Art for Kids – This tutorial shows how to create textured art using household objects like leaves and coins.
Website: The Artful Parent – Provides detailed steps for doing texture rubbings with crayons.
10. Time Challenge: 60-Second Drawings
Exercise: Set a timer for 60 seconds and give your child a simple object to draw, like a cup, a toy, or a fruit. When the timer goes off, see how much they could draw in that time.
How it helps: This fast-paced challenge builds concentration and encourages kids to focus on basic shapes without getting caught up in details.
Tip: A timer can help make this exercise more fun by adding a game-like element to it.
Final Thoughts
Encouraging kids to draw is a great way to boost their creativity, enhance their focus, and provide an outlet for self-expression. These 10 drawing exercises are not only easy to do but are also designed to keep kids engaged, helping them improve their artistic skills while having fun. Plus, they don’t require any expensive materials – just a few basic art supplies and plenty of imagination.
Ready to start drawing? Equip your child with the best tools to nurture their creativity! Check out these affordable drawing kits and see the difference high-quality supplies can make.
By incorporating these simple activities into your child’s daily routine, you’ll see their confidence grow as they express themselves artistically. Happy drawing!
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