Drawing Ideas & Games
Prompts, games and projects for the kitchen table, the car and the rainy afternoon. Most need paper and a pencil and about ten minutes of your attention.
Drawing prompts for kids, sorted by age (3 to 12)
Sixty-odd drawing prompts sorted into four age bands, with the reasoning behind each so you can invent your own when these run out.
9 min read
Easy drawing ideas for 3 to 5 year olds that need almost no setup
Drawing activities for little kids at home that start in under a minute, with notes on what to say, what to skip and when to stop.
9 min read
Rainy day drawing activities that last longer than ten minutes
A wet afternoon planned in stages, so the drawing keeps going after the first burst of enthusiasm fades.
9 min read
Drawing games for kids that need nothing but paper and a pencil
Seven paper-and-pencil drawing games with the rules spelled out, the usual ways they go wrong, and a fix for each.
9 min read
The draw-a-monster game: rules, variations and why kids love it
Three ways to play draw-a-monster, why children return to it again and again, and how to turn a scribble with eleven eyes into a story.
9 min read
A 30-day drawing challenge for kids (that survives day 12)
Most daily drawing challenges die around day twelve. Here is a 30-day plan designed around that, with themes by week and an exhibition at the end.
9 min read
Nature art projects for kids using leaves, stones and mud
Leaf rubbings, stone faces, mud paint and stick frames, with notes on what to collect, what to leave alone and where each project goes wrong.
9 min read
Family drawing games for a long evening (ages 4 to adult)
Mixed-age drawing games for a long evening, with the rules written out, a sensible handicap system for adults and a running order for the night.
9 min read
Drawing games for car trips and long train rides
A practical kit and a set of motion-friendly drawing games for car trips and train rides, with notes on queasiness, mess and the noise level in the back seat.
9 min read
Story-starter drawing prompts: draw first, tell the story after
Five questions, a six-line story spine and some illustrative scripts for turning a finished drawing into a story, without hijacking it.
9 min read
Doodle ideas for bored kids (and bored grown-ups)
Instead of a list of things to doodle, four doodle systems that let a bored child generate endless ideas on the back of anything.
8 min read
Beyond crayons: drawing materials for kids and what each is good for
Crayons, oil pastels, markers, chalk, watercolour pencils and ordinary pencils, with plain opinions on what each does well, what it does badly and what to buy.
9 min read