Children - Lesson 5: Materials

Child

Hi. What do you use to make a drawing? Let’s look at different kinds of tools and materials you might try. We asked Silas, a young boy who likes to paint, to show us how he does it. Can you make a drawing with materials you’ve never tried before?

Adult/Teacher

Hello. In this lesson, help the child go further in their creative drawing by considering additional materials. The lessons ends with a little boy who likes to paint. Can your child add to his or her repertoire with new tools to make art?

Materials

Every child can draw on something. Whether by using a stick on a beach, a pencil on newsprint, or fine artist materials on exquisite papers purchased at a professional shop, children will find a way to make marks. As an adult, recognize that the choice of materials will dictate what happens next. For example, if a child wants to add fine details in a drawing, then a broad-tipped marker, chunky chalk, or a crayon is unlikely to permit it. If a child wants to draw with a lot of color, then a black pencil won’t cut it; more options need to be available. Over time, however, children will likely want to experiment with everything. They should have access at home and school to a wide range of materials in order to make many different kinds of effects. What kinds are recommended? [1]

Materials to have on hand

• Marking tools. Pencils are probably the most common art making tools for children. They are everywhere and easy for a child to grasp, physically. Very young children like thick-leaded soft pencils because they make velvety, bold lines. Pencils need to be sharp, so be sure to have a sharpener around. Ballpoint pens are found in every home, and they are responsive, precise, inexpensive, and come in many colors. Felt-tipped and fiber-tipped markers glide across the page, come in many colors, and don’t require much pressure from young hands: all attractive features. With these markers, the finer-tipped markers allow more details than the broader-tipped ones. Crayons were once the default tool for children, but their softness and inability to resharpen make them better for filling in lines (coloring) than making lines (drawing). For highly-detailed drawings, look for technical pens and drafting pens. Encourage your child to explore with different tools. It may require some coaxing. It can be like trying new foods: sometimes scary, but ultimately delicious.

• Papers. The key here is variety. Children respond to the size, shape, and type of paper. Size and shape, in particular, affect the kind of drawing a child will make and its quality, as well. Children’s innate sense is to fill whatever they’re given, and very young children sometimes use the outside dimensions of the paper as its own drawn line. So give them paper of different sizes. Variety will spark creativity. If you have a stack of papers, cut the papers into different shapes and sizes. What will they make on a circular piece of paper or a triangular paper? Provide copy paper, colored paper, newsprint, notecards, Post-it notes, lined papers, note pads, poster paper, papers thick and thin, and even rolls of paper. You might even have a white board or a chalkboard. Don’t forget that with pieces of tape, sheets of paper can morph into many different shapes and sizes.

• Drawings spaces. Where to draw? At home, space is often at a premium. It’s unlikely that a child will have her own dedicated art studio space. Especially in a home with multiple children, how can a child feel like they have permission to go somewhere and draw? If they use a dining table, they might constantly be told to clear it away so it can be used for other purposes. If their tools and papers are scattered around, an adult’s impulse to clean up might send the message that drawing is less important, or it might deprive a child of the sudden impulse to draw—it is common for a solo drawing session to start and stop in unpredictable spurts. It’s an issue of territory, isn’t it? Can you find a designated place where the child is permitted and encouraged to draw and where his materials will be safe from pets and siblings and the requirements of the family?

• A final word about materials. Adults and children don’t approach the activity of drawing the same way. Adults often see a child’s drawing as a precious, finished object that is a result of serious effort. It is something that belongs on the refrigerator or the mantle for all to see, and it is to be kept for years or sent to loved ones. Children, on the other hand, often think of drawings as disposable things altogether. That doesn’t mean it is an unimportant activity, simply that a child doesn’t realize how important it is. As a result, they can go through a lot of materials. Their drawings are made in a burst of creative play. For them, it is not about a drawing so much as simply, drawing.

This is Silas. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, and he likes to paint. In the video above, you can watch him adding to his big work in progress. Below is a photo gallery of Silas at work and some of the paintings that he has made.

[1] See Teaching Children to Draw, Marjorie Wilson and Brent Wilson, 2009, David Publications, Inc. (Worchester, Massachusetts)