4 Approaches to Drawing

Some examples from this month:

1. Observational drawing.  Lily and Hannah follow the instructions, "Draw what you see."  This technique is a tool for scientific inquiry, as children notice and record the details that will in later years translate to detailed writing, description, and classification.

2. Drawing from recollection.

3. Drawing instruction.  Sometimes we think that teaching children to draw is robbing them of their potential for being creative.  On the contrary, teaching children the skill of drawing is what enables creativity!  Otherwise it would be like asking someone to make music without teaching them how to play the instrument!  Below, see how Ellen demonstrated to Eli how to draw a cat.

4. Cross-modal drawings (of sounds, feelings and ideas); drawing from different perspectives.  Do we do this enough? These are new frontiers for us to pursue.  In studying the book the Hundred Languages of Children, Jesse, Maria and I discovered a series of children's drawings of the sounds of the rain.