Some young artists struggle when they’re asked to draw whatever they want. For many children, creating art at school is easier with a defined place to start. This is where a good drawing prompt can put them on the right path. Try these six prompts the next time your students need a little inspiration.
6 Drawing Prompts That Make Art Fun for Kids
If you’re not familiar with drawing prompts, they are simple ideas or themes that spark a child’s imagination and give them something to draw. Teachers and parents can use prompts to help kids build confidence, while giving them enough room to make their own creative choices.
1. Draw a Creature That Lives in the Clouds
The prompt of “a creature living in the clouds” gives young artists a location to work with and enough scope to create something unique. This helps them develop their imagination while still working from something familiar. As children start to work on their drawings, you can get them to add more detail by asking questions, like what the creature eats and how it behaves.
2. Turn Your Backyard Into a Jungle
This prompt gets kids comparing scale, such as a fence-high vine or a leaf as big as the shed. While their actual backyard can form the backdrop for the drawing, they’ll need to turn it into something bigger and wilder, with oversized plants and uncontrollable vines. Observation and imagination work together here, and as a result, such drawing can improve concentration in elementary-aged kids.
3. Draw Yourself on an Adventure
Many kids will have already completed a self-portrait, but this drawing prompt adds a narrative element. Within the drawing they will need to think about storytelling in visual form. Everything from the outfit they’re wearing to the items they’re carrying will give people key information about the adventure. This teaches the importance of communicating ideas with simple visual cues to bypass having to explain everything so concretely.
4. Imagine Your Pet Doing Something Impossible
This drawing prompt can help kids bring humor and lightheartedness to their work. If they have a pet, they could imagine them flying or talking. And if they don’t, they could create a cat, dog or other animal character and add fantastical elements to the drawing. Ask them how their pet feels about doing something impossible to help them add more personality to the artwork.
5. Create a Map of a Place That Doesn’t Exist
Drawing a map helps children develop skills in spatial awareness, composition and visual communication. As they arrange landmarks, create symbols, and show how different parts of their imagined world connect, they will learn the importance of planning and detail in their work. And when they’re not sure where to start, you could give them a more direct prompt, such as drawing a pirate island or an unexplored planet.
6. Invent a Robot With an Unusual Job
When children receive this prompt they’ll need to think about what the robot looks like, and what its purpose could be. This lets them be inventive or whimsical in their drawings, such as creating a robot that finds missing toys or waters plants in the desert. This kind of problem-solving is exactly what good art lessons for kids should encourage.
Try Our Fun Drawing Lessons for Children
Golden Road Arts is an Oregon non-profit founded by artist and printmaker Barbara Mason. We create art lessons for elementary and middle school children covering art history, art literacy and instructional drawing techniques. Call (503) 718-7097 or browse our free art lessons. You can also support us by donating here.
