Naturally Teaching Art to Children

You may have heard – and I do agree –  that all children are born artists.  I’ve often seen this quote attributed to Picasso:

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

All toddlers doodle, whether it’s with a misplaced Sharpie (been there), or with mud.  A toddler doesn’t try to make a perfect replica of an object; he just doodles, she simply draws.  It is only when someone says, “a tree looks like this,” or , “the sky is blue, clouds are white” that a child begins to critique his work. It’s when another child says, “look at mine!” or a teacher says, “she has drawn the perfect house; everyone look at Sally’s perfect house” that the child begins to doubt her work.

The key to helping children enjoy art is to….stay out of the way of it. Let them draw, do, create, without input. Give them the materials, give them the free time, and either join them (do join them), or step back.

“Only you can draw what you see,” I’d say to my children, especially my cautious one. Only you can see the dog from your angle; only you can draw it like you see it. Nobody can tell you that your drawing isn’t good — they can’t see what you see.

{If you shop from the links in this post, FreelyEducate may get a bit of the purchase (at no cost to you). As always, we only send you to products we use in our homeschool, and recommend.}

The Practical Side of Teaching Art Naturally:  The Supplies

When the kids were young, we didn’t attempt to buy the best supplies. We wanted quantity above quality. We wanted to feel free to throw out paper often, and to replace supplies frequently.

As teenagers, our children began buying higher quality materials in the mediums that interested them.  Just this week, for his birthday, our eldest was happy to receive a fountain pen and a bottle of ink.

We purchased our supplies over time, as they went on sale.  Often, they were received as gifts “to the family” from us parents or from grandparents. We didn’t get a lot of supplies at once — it’s more fun to space new things out, so art remains interesting and exciting!

So to give you an idea of what to keep around, here are some art supplies in our house right now:

• my favorite item: butcher paper, purchased in a giant roll from Sam’s
• brown paper, also purchased in a roll
• white gel pen for the brown paper
• charcoal
• cotton balls, luffa, sea sponges – anything for ‘texture’ to use with paints
• watercolors
• paint brushes
• Crayola markers
• Sumi ink
• calligraphy dip pen (and these nibs)
• pencils
• papers: bristol, lined, typing, rice paper, butcher paper (we buy a giant roll from Sam’s)

There are other things, too many to list.  We have fabric scraps and buttons and we even have screenprinting supplies.  As I said, we collect them as we go; here a twig, there a pen, until we have several shoeboxes of supplies for anyone to use.

I wrote this in my homeschooling binder when our children were younger:

On nature hikes, our children carry a drawing pad each. It has a nice thick cardboard backing, so they are able to use it “out in the field.” To give them the freedom to try and occasionally fail, I told the children that they don’t need to worry about messing up in this book.  We are going to take out the pages that are really good, and create a book out of the drawing pages and the watercolor pages.

The Most Important Part of Teaching Art Naturally: Letting Go

This is important: the supplies, except the most messy ones, are kept within reach and available at all times.  If I wrote only one sentence for this post, that would be it.  Keep the supplies handy and available.  A ream of typing paper is just a couple dollars; pencils and crayons are under a dollar during back-to-school sales.  When the supplies are readily at hand, your child can draw whenever the mood or inspiration strikes.

Often, other parents would visit our home and gasp at some of the supplies we kept in the open. They’d say, “I could never.” But if a child has grown up with (blunt-nosed) scissors or Crayola markers or watercolors, she is less likely to use them in the wrong way (on the carpet), and more likely to use them with the paper that is right there, handy as can be.

Once in a while, a mother will say, “I could never,” because the kids might make a mess.  To that, I have this to say: _____________.  Nothing. I have nothing to say.  If giving a child freedom to draw isn’t more important than the mess that may happen, I just, have no response.

But you’re not like that.  You’ve taken enough precautions (painting is allowed only on the wooden dining table covered in butcher paper over a moppable floor) and you’re taught him to help out with cleanup.  She will pick up the bits of paper when she’s done cutting out paper dolls, because she’s done it a dozen times before (I’ll bet you even have a song you sing when you clean up together!).

The Teaching Side of Teaching Art Naturally:  You Don’t

Well, mostly you don’t.  When at all possible, stay out of the way as the child draws what he sees.  Later, much later, once he’s ready for it (if he ever is ready for it), you can give him tips on shading or perspective, or send her off to classes.

We have four children.  Of the four, one is very unsure of himself when it comes to art, and drawing is uncomfortable for him.  He’s a teenager now, and seldom draws. But he has mentioned our nature journaling days many times.  Those days had such a big impact on him! He remembers them as good family days, days when we’d enjoy being outdoors together, spending time together as we drew what we saw.  He usually chose to draw a bug or a leaf over a landscape.  His drawings are rather abstract and really fun to look at!

The other three are more natural artists, meaning, they don’t doubt themselves about art before plunging into it.  One has always drawn armored things: military, tanks, robots.  One has always drawn design ideas: a dress to sew, a knitting pattern.  And our youngest, this one pictured below, has had a love of drawing that’s shown up every day since she was 2-years-old and drew her stuffed animal while sitting next to me at a church service.

When I took the above photo, I said, “nice nose!” My young artist glanced over at me with a dead-serious look and said, “Mom. Really?”

Haha, I couldn’t help it.

She asked me today if I could find her some local art classes.  She’s taken quite a few online classes (through Skillshare and some through Bluprint (formerly Craftsy) — we recommend both!) , but she says she’s ready for an instructor who could give her some critiques.

And so now, now that she has chosen to, we will seek a master.