When I was a child, I drew a lot. I drew at the table and on the floor and on my bed and in the yard. I drew while I listened or while I talked or while I daydreamed. I treasure those memories and want the same for my children.
Before 2018, my children enjoyed drawing with me from time to time, but they didn’t doodle unprompted. As I daydreamed about our family culture, I imagined evenings drawing on the couch while listening to audiobooks together and lazy afternoons drawing on the porch while chatting. As I thought about the skills I wanted my kids to carry into adulthood, drawing made the short list. Drawing is useful, peaceful and empowering. It trains the eye, tunes fine motor skills, grows patience, improves memory and indirectly teaches math through symmetry and proportions. It aids communication, provides a creative outlet and is a gateway to other arts. Also, drawing is as easy to scoop up as a phone game and far more rewarding.
So, like we had done with other skills and habits, we drew every day for six months straight. I kept it simple. I stowed a stash of pencils and stack of printer paper beside the table and picked a time slot. Every day, they drew while I read aloud or I drew with them while we listened to a story on audio.
Sometimes we used colored pencils or crayons. A few times we painted. But most days, we just sketched with mechanical pencils. My son meticulously copied creatures from field guides and my daughter took inspiration from illustrated fairy tale books. For a while, they made their own books with creased pages and a stapler. Some days we drew for forty minutes, some days for five minutes. Some days someone didn’t want to draw (and some days that someone was me), but we did it anyway.
Our efforts were helped by habits we had already implemented: Since we had spent six months reading aloud, they were full of stories to draw. Since we had spent six months enjoying nature, they were ready to sketch critters. Since we had spent six months practicing solitude, they were comfortable sitting still and quiet for a long time.
Nowadays, my kids draw nearly every day unprompted. Printer paper and pencils remain our go-to supplies. They draw what they see in books and what they discover outside and what they imagine themselves. They draw at the table and on the couch and on the roof of the playhouse. They draw while I read aloud to them and while they chat with each other and while they rest alone. Last year, they filled flipbooks with dragons while listening to How to Train Your Dragon books 1-7 together. Lately, we draw or watercolor together while we listen to The Wingfeather Saga on audiobook. Drawing has become part of our family culture.
This article was printed in the Winnsboro News in September 2021 as part of the series: Six Months Cultivating Skills, Joys and Habits into Your Children.
Nature, Art and Stories Collide: An Easy Start to Nature Journaling with Children
ABOUT THE SERIES
In 2016, when my children were four, two and one, I sat down to imagine our future family culture. I made a big word web so that I could see all my dreams on one page, then I formulated a plan. In those early years, I would focus on developing one habit at a time, slowly working each into the dough of our family culture.
I wanted us to love story, so we read aloud every day for six months and the habit stuck. I wanted us to love nature, so we went outside every day for the next six months and that stuck too. One spring, we normalized cleaning and now I have helpers. One fall, I taught them to cook and now they join me in the kitchen. We prioritized imaginative play and learned to appreciate solitude and practiced personal hygiene and drew; now all these lifegiving activities happen near-daily. It worked.
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