002378-It’s Time for Play: Drawing
[music]
Children: It's time for play!
Narrator: Hello and welcome, artists. Today, I'm going to share my love of drawing with you. Drawing is a playful way for us to express how we see the world. It is a way for children and adults to communicate ideas and thoughts and feelings in ways that words often can't. It is a great way to wind down after a stressful day or to process emotions when you're feeling angry or scared or frustrated, especially when those feelings are a little bit too big.
Drawing can also be silly. We can use it to tell jokes or cheer someone up, and we can do it almost anywhere. Children use drawing to explore their world. They play with textures and colors and materials and subjects to tell us stories from their life or from their imagination. They use drawing to make sense of their emotions, to practice empathy, and create connection with the people in their lives, and research also shows that drawing and scribbling, it can help children and infants to practice fine motor skills and spatial skills that they are going to use for the rest of their lives.
One of the great things about drawing is you can use everyday materials. You can use pencil and paper. You can use concrete and chalk. You can use water and stone. Check that out. Little smiley face. Children also love to tell stories. When you're drawing, ask open-ended questions like, "Tell me about your drawing," and write down what they say. This type of dictation is important for language learning, but it also helps us learn how to verbalize our feelings and other things that are on our minds. So, when you do this, you want to focus on interest and encouragement. So, instead of saying, "Wow! Look at this great drawing," you can say, "I love how you used squiggly lines," or "It's really interesting that you chose blue for this painting."
When we notice these small artistic choices, it really encourages artists both big and small to continue to create without fear of judgment. And we can also use these powers of observation to draw things from nature. So, the next time you're out on a walk or in the yard, you can collect items like leaves and sticks and stones. I live nearby the ocean, so I've got some shells. But make sure that whatever you collect to draw is no longer alive and isn't still growing.
We can also get creative with the way that we measure. So, is the yam longer or shorter than the orange? Is the cat's paw bigger or smaller than my hand? If we're drawing animals and pets, we can look for shapes. So, can you find circles or ovals or triangles? How do they connect to each other? We can also explore textures and colors with fruits and veggies. What happens when we cut them in half? Do they change? What happens when they change the lighting?
What changes? What materials are we going to use to replicate these colors and textures?
And [sighs] sometimes it can be really overwhelming to figure out what to draw, especially when we're feeling a little stressed. So, again, put together a little bowl of prompts and just pull one out, see what you got. "Fictional animal." Seems like a fun thing to draw. You can also play music, and when the music changes, how does your drawing change? Do you use different colors or lines or patterns?
And honestly, we're all trying to find creative ways to connect to each other. So, you can make it social. You can do a drawing together using turn-taking. So, you can draw a line or a shape or add a small picture, and then pass it along. You can even send it through the mail. So, for me, drawing is one of my favorite ways to share with others. It is often very messy and personal, but it never has to be perfect. Drawing is what you make of it.
So, go ahead, artists. Next time you make time for play, give drawing a try. I'll see you later.
When children draw, they use their fine motor skills and sometimes communicate thoughts and feelings. In this video, learn how you can encourage children to draw and get creative in their drawings.
