This was my attempt to teach observational drawing to early elementary school kids in some private classes in my home.
I collected a bunch of items from around my house as you see above and told the children to each choose what they would like to draw. Observational drawing is exactly what its name implies. Observe and draw. The trick is to find simple things for them to try.
There are certainly some children that are better than others at this skill of copying but, most of them can do a reasonable rendering of simple objects.
I gave them black, fine tipped markers for this because I wanted them to paint in their drawing with watercolors and I know it looks beautiful when the outside is drawn with a black marker.
This is definitely an activity that is better done individually or in very small groups. You don’t have to be an artist to attempt this with children, just have them try to follow the lines and shapes they see as best as they can.
One child got the idea to copy the paints themselves and many of the kids followed along.
After they drew a number of objects on a few sheets of paper, they got the pan watercolors to paint in their drawings.
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At one point I was teaching the children how to draw using the Monart method from the book Drawing with Children. Mona Brooks the author and developer of this method has an interesting way of teaching drawing and if you are serious about doing so then get a hold of her book and try to follow what she teaches.
One of her lessons talks about using a teapot and a vase so I rustled up my own and showed them how they can draw from different perspectives.
Below were some results.
One day I brought a bunch of vegetables for them to draw.
One child drew a bunch of them, painted them in, cut them out, drew a bowl and pasted the vegetables into the bowl.
What I have found with teaching observational drawing with children is that they can't be too young and they have to really be interested in learning to draw. Many children are more interested in the process of art but, as they get older and show and interest in drawing then you can definably find some simple objects and let them have a go at it.
