Monday, July 30, 2007

"Drawing with Children'', by Mona Brookes.


I've come across a wonderful book! I think it's a must read for ALL parents! I've been reading it for a couple of days, taking my time to digest what I'd read, re-reading some chapters again... It's a book about teaching kids to draw. Exactly, TEACHING...

"Drawing with Children", A creative teaching and learning method that works for adults, too, by Mona Brookes.

Ivana has been enjoying herself drawing since she was 1 years old. I remember spending countless hours with her by the table, drawing FOR her, then letting her color the pictures. Her hand has become very steady, her pictures pretty intricate and her desire to draw has been growing rapidly. She loves to draw animals, a lot. We have a few books that provide instructions on how to draw a lot of things, and we've been using them quite often.

And then I started noticing that she wants more. I found an art studio and went to investigate the program and the costs involved. It turned out that it would coast us $100 a month to let her take the classes, and for a single income family it is a lot. So I started thinking about what can I do about it, and finding and reading the book by Mona Brookes was a true blessing for me. The book has opened the doors for me to teaching my kids how to draw...

I have a pretty good eye for things, I have a creative and artistic approach, and has always been interested in drawing, painting, self expressing through art. Intuitively I knew a lot of things that are described in the book. But to read it and clearly see and understand the possibility to be able to draw just about everything was an amazing discovery for me! And we are on a roll with both my girls, ages almost 6 and 3.

I've started giving them drawing lessons! We are having so much fun together, and they are looking forward to learning more every week and spending that special time with Mom (since we have the baby, it's been quite a challenge lately, to spend some quality time with my older daughters!)

First, we talked about and found the 5 basic shapes that everything around us consists of (dot, circle, straight line, curved line, and an angle). We do a "warm up" exercise to practice the eye and the hand, and then we draw a picture, together.
What the book teaches you is how to verbalize and use the simple, but understandable instructions to teach the kids follow you in their own drawing. The transformation form being able to draw "stick" people for Leona, who is 3 yo, to be able to draw a still life with overlapping objects is amazing! And Ivana started exploring more on her own, and be more creative in color choosing and finishing the picture with the fine details.

There are a lot of ideas in the book on how to encourage the children to see the possibility of self expression and overcoming the fear of something "being difficult or impossible to draw". At the end, everything around us is made of the same shapes. But it might take a bit longer to complete a "Panda" drawing than a simple flower. Satisfaction and joy in kids' eyes after completion of the project are indescribable!

56 comments:

Kate aka: Yoda said...

Thank you so much for your review of this book.... I have been interrested in using this with my daughter and can't find any samples or reviews..... But thanks for adding yours! Also, your daughter did a great job on her panda!
Thanks again.... great review!
Kate

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