I am really keen that the children have a creative outlet. I think it’s really important to have something creative that you can do and that you enjoy doing. It is something I am grateful for as I get older and I enjoy needlework crafts and am, at the moment, working on some embroidery projects.
I’ve recently invested in some books that teach the children drawing skills and they have been huge hits, you may well have spotted me sharing some of our work on my Instagram stories. I’ve really enjoyed working through some of the activities alongside the children and it’s been lovely to watch them then head off to do their own thing following the books’ instructions.
The team at Quarto have been producing some great lists of books for home learning and have a fabulous range of books that are perfect for activities at home. I’ve shared their image below to give you some ideas as well as details of our personal favourites here.
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We have been really enjoying some Step by Step drawing books over the last three or four weeks. I’m not the best artist in the world, but using these books the children and I have all been able to draw some really good things. I bought the Draw Everything in 5 Simple Steps for Em’s birthday and the Step by Step Drawing book I bought a couple of weeks back. We love this one so much that the older two asked me to buy the Step by Step Drawing People Book!
The instructions are all really clear and even H at three has been able to draw some of the things in the book following the instructions. Each page has plenty of space for children to practise their drawings in the book if they wish.
Once children have mastered these simple illustrations you can add to them, and as they grow in confidence the ‘How to draw almost anything for Kids‘ book is perfect for learning more about technique and get children thinking about proportions and different types of illustrations.
For wider arty type work Em has been busy bookmarking the many activities she would like to do in the Art Lab: Express Yourself Book. This book is packed full of many different ideas for artwork and we are going to have a go at this woven eye one at some stage over the coming week. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
I’ve also been leaving out a book called 100 Screen-Free Ways to Beat Boredom. This book has some fantastic ideas to help children with their creativity and to think of many different ways to keep themselves occupied. I like the shadow puppet idea and I think they were keen to have a go at doing that. I think we might all create some characters and once we have a box, create our own theatre. Daniel has also been digging out his Lego Play Book which I reviewed a while ago here. There are some fantastic ideas in here and anything that involves lego is sure to be a hit here, and it’s got lots of great learning opportunities in it too, which is never a bad thing.
