Drawing Pictures for Kids
Our free download of drawing pictures for kids includes a dolphin, seahorse, fish, prawn, octopus, turtle, and jellyfish. Each of these pages shows step-by-step drawing for kids so they can follow along and create beautiful art.
Why Easy Drawing for Kids is Important
One of the things almost all kids seem drawn to is drawing. Giving your children freedom to draw without judgement is a huge benefit from a very early age. Every time your child takes out pencil and paper, they are building and honing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination in a huge way. Time spent drawing is time spent off screens!
Encourage your child to draw with our easy drawing for kids printable. Each page has a different animal for your child to draw. Each animal is from the ocean and is super cute. For each animal, you’ll find the step-by-step drawing instructions in picture format so that anyone can follow along.
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Directed Drawing for Kids
When step-by-step instructions are included in this way, it is called directed drawing. Directed drawing is incredibly valuable because it teaches children to follow directions, complete steps in order, follow diagrams instead of written instructions, and problem solve when a step is missed or something doesn’t look quite right.
Drawing Pictures for Kids
The pictures included in our directed drawing for kids printable are super cute! Kids love these animals and will get such a kick out of drawing them. You can use a different picture each week to go along with your lesson plans, or just give your child unlimited access to the drawing pictures. For instance, when you are learning the letter D you could use the page for how to draw a dolphin for kids. It’s the perfect time to learn how to draw a dolphin!
I tend to just give my kids unlimited access because I want to encourage them to draw as much as possible. The success of directed drawing for kids brings them back to the activity over and over again.
How to Encourage Drawing Pictures for Kids
There are several ways you can encourage your kids to draw without turning them off from the idea. I don’t know about your kids, but often times if my kids *know* how much I want them to do something, they rebel against the idea and refuse to enjoy the activity. Which is silly, but also just part of childhood. So if we can encourage our kids to draw without pushing them to draw or revealing how important it is for their development, that’s a win-win.
Providing fun tools.
High quality tools will help inspire your artist instead of becoming a frustration! Just something to keep in mind as you explore the stores.
- colored pencils
- sketching pencils
- kneaded erasers
- gum erasers
- good drawing paper
- a pencil sharpener that works well
- pencil cases so that drawing supplies can travel to Grandmas house or vacation
Providing instruction.
Printables like the one we are offering with directed drawing for kids will really help them feel like they have accomplished something fast. It will also over time improve their independent drawing skill. As I already mentioned, every time your child draws they are working on those fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, which is a huge bonus for school readiness and school success.
You can also purchase drawing books with directed drawing ideas for kids. These books come in varying degrees of difficulty from super easy to fairly difficult and can be coordinated with your lessons to tie in what they are learning to what they are drawing.
Don’t rule out in person drawing classes as well. Check to see if your local recreation centers or library offer classes for kids and sign up for the one on drawing!
No-judgment Zone
I cannot over-emphasize the no-judgment part of drawing with kids. Kids need to feel free to draw without risking critical words from either parent. Drawing with skill takes time, so of course, their first drawings or even their fiftieth drawing is not going to be a Picasso.
The more time you can encourage your child to draw the better he or she will become. In addition, perfection is simply not the goal. If you discourage your child with harsh or critical words about something they have personally created, you will discourage further work on that skill.
How to Implement Directed Drawing for Kids: Tips and Tricks
One thing you can do is have daily time for drawing and creating. Provide the drawing supplies, instructions, and paper at the table while you prepare dinner.
The next night, provide construction paper, scissors, glue and stickers instead.
On the third night, give your child some coloring pages.
When you run out of ideas, let your child pick one of the previous activities to repeat.
By not forcing one specific activity too often, you can keep all the different activities new and fun. It’s the benefit of rotation! The most important aspect of this is giving your child complete freedom to create as they see fit with the tools supplied.
Have Fun!
You and your children can both have fun with drawing activities. Kids love it when you get involved with their activities! One of the things that always goes over well is a timed drawing contest. In any case, try to have fun with drawing and encourage your kids to have fun so that they will keep coming back again and again.
Download Your Free Directed Drawing Printable Here
