So you want to teach your child to draw? That’s great. But there’s so many different ways to teach drawings for kids. There are in-person tutors, art lesson books, and of course drawings for kids step by step.
But why waste your time searching through the web for drawings for kids if you’re not sure they’re going to work. In this quick blog post, we’ll make it very clear whether step by step drawings for kids is right for your child. So let’s jump right in.
These are simple coloring book style pages or images with steps for a child to follow. They can range from very detailed with 50+ steps to as simple as 3 steps. You can find them on sites with free printables and downloads. Any parent that’s ever homeschooled has come across them at some point or another. They look like this:
There are actually some pretty cool ones out there if you know where to look. But there are 3 questions we need to answer before you decide whether they’re right for your kid; each more critical than the last.
Question 1: How important is drawing to your child?
Children are natural creatives. They are born with a strong sense of creativity and curiosity; wanting to learn and create whenever possible. Therefore, many kids eventually find art to be one of their most favorite hobbies. They start by dabbling in art, to eventually being very serious artists that have their own niche “style”.
If your child is a beginner, like still using printer paper and draws once every blue moon beginner, then drawings for kids that are step by step works fine. But if you’ve taken to the web because your child has blown through every art coloring book, and insists on drawing at least once a week, then they’ve reached an important milestone.
A milestone that screams, “I have a real passion here mom and I want to continue to explore it.” Many parents ignore this milestone, and within months that passion slowly dies. You don’t want to be that parent. And nothing makes it worse than providing teens with drawings for kids step by step that don’t challenge them anymore.
So if drawing IS important to your kid…it’s your job to add fuel to their fire!
Question 2: What’s their learning style?
Learning styles are one of the biggest influences to the success of a child’s learning. Actually, it’s vital to success of anyone trying to learn anything. And there’s tons of research on the different kinds of learning styles, what they mean, how they help, and how to approach teaching to them. But rather than send you on a scavenger hunt around the web, I’ll sum up the most important info here for you.
There’s many different types of learning styles; from visual, to logical, to verbal. But the three main learning styles are:
Kinaesthetic – Auditory – Visual
Kinaesthetic – kids learn best by doing and being hands-on
Think hands-on projects, crafts or learning by following.
According to openwiselearning.org, 50% of students are kinaesthetic learners.
Auditory – kids learn best by listening to directions
Think poems, songs, or even plain old lectures.
According to openwiselearning.org, 10% of students are auditory learners.
Visual – kids learn best from watching instruction
Think simple diagrams or pictures to learn.
According to openwiselearning.org, 40% of students are visual learners.
Videos are great for visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners.
So it’s easy to tell auditory learners are the ones that would hate drawings for kids step by step. If that’s your child, then read no further. But if your child is a visual or kinaesthetic learner (the majority of kids) then step by step drawings just might work.
If you don’t know, then your best bet is video drawing lessons for your child. Because think about it, videos include visual instruction, auditory instruction, and the child has to follow along. So even if you DO know your child’s learning style, chances are drawing video lessons will be a hit with your kid!
But that brings us to our last question…
Question 3: How important is art learning for your child to you?
The most critical question of them all…how important is it to you that your child continues to grow as an artist?
If it’s not important, you’ll probably scour the web for all the free step by step drawings for kids that you can find. But as we learned, that can be a HUGE creativity killer for your child.
If you’re in the middle, you’ll find the right lessons for your child’s learning style, but maybe won’t put emphasis on the quality; Searching youtube for random video art lessons. And sometimes that helps, but most times it hurts because your child can’t rely on just YouTubers to help them improve their art skills.
If it is important, you’ll be the parent that takes the time to research the different art instruction options for your child; Maybe even allowing your child to browse through professional online art course sites like Sparketh. And this will always grow your child’s confidence; knowing professionals, course files, and more are always at their fingertips.
So take the time to think, “Which parent am I really?”. And, “Am I doing the best I can to foster my child’s creativity?”.
Be honest, use your answers to our 3 questions, and make your decision.
Further reading:
How to find a homeschool art curriculum for your child.
Learning Styles Researched With Statistics