Drawing is an innate skill for us humans, give your child a pencil or crayon and paper and they will instantly know how to use them. You can teach your child to be creative through drawing. Here's how:
- Maintain a positive and fun atmosphere when showing your kids how to draw. Compose a game plan and interesting activities, make them experience that drawing can also be an adventure.
- Avoid letting them copy existing cartoon characters or designs. Encourage them to create their own or let them copy real objects, images or sceneries instead.
- Encouragement is the key, not flattery or false praises. Kids are smarter than you think, they also have their own aesthetic sensibilities.
- Help them overcome their fear of not drawing something beautiful by telling them that there are so many ways of creating images.
- Always challenge their imagination by asking them to draw their responses with open ended questions like "What will happen if..."
- Be a model, literally and figuratively. Let them draw you while you also draw them.
- Use non-conventional, inexpensive, recyclable tools and materials such as old newspapers and magazines, discarded milk and juice cartons, stick on sand, toothpicks on bread dough clay, flashlight/led light on dark room, twisting used copper wires or scratching soda cans with nails (with supervision) etc.
- Show drawings of the great masters and tell their inspiring stories. Children love stories.
- Let them draw all their favorite things, persons, or events.
- Make them draw whenever they feel something: when they're happy, excited, upset, or scared.
