Fun Family Art Activities

You know how antsy kids get in a restaurant when waiting forever to get the food? I love those activity page kids’ menus that restaurants hand out along with crayons to keep them busy. The game ‘I Spy’ played on long road trips may also be played (quietly) at a restaurant. You draw some small detail (like part of a salt shaker) and the other person has to guess what it is. All you need is a pen and paper from Mom’s purse.

When I was a kid there was a Popeye Show hosted by Tom Hatten who would draw random lines (‘squiggles’) on a page and bring them together to create something familiar. Lines sent in by viewers were turned into an animal or funny looking character. A prize was awarded if he couldn’t turn the lines into something. Five-line drawing (as I call it) involves each person drawing five random lines on a small piece of paper, trading papers, and trying to make a cohesive picture from the lines.

Using two different color pens allows you to see the original lines separate from the added details. I start by using a large piece of newsprint hung on an easel or an available whiteboard. Then I get someone from each table to draw me a 'squiggle'. 

Try not to draw 5 individual pictures though.

I also use this as a warm-up exercise in my art classes where the topic is LINE.

Students are totally surprised by the outcome and are anxious to make their own drawings with their classmates and perhaps later with family.

Combination Man (a.k.a Monster) Drawing Game

You can build a monster by folding a small piece of paper into thirds, then passing the papers around, in turn, drawing head, torso, and legs. Each person doesn’t know what the others have drawn because you fold to hide the previous portion before passing it along to draw the next part. This works best with crayons, markers, or colored pencils, or different color ballpoint pens. In the end, you open up the paper to reveal your crazy monster.

My grown daughter did this activity with friends vacationing in Port Townsend while waiting for food at Waterfront Pizza. The restaurant supplied the crayons.

When children first begin to pick up crayons to color it is important to foster their freedom of expression by allowing them to both choose the colors and the way in which they apply them. Don’t worry that their lines don’t fill in the outlined shapes. Scribbling is an early form of expression much like stick-figure drawing of family members. Even coloring book pages may be drawn in non-traditional colors. As their ability progresses, they will eventually adopt more traditionally recognizable pictures. Drawing or coloring with a child can speed up the process.

Adding pattern to the shapes rather than completely filling them in with solid color is a way of making coloring fun and more interesting. You may also find interesting ways to decorate the backgrounds and fill up that empty white space. It’s like reading to a child and changing the story or adding different voices. This will keep them engaged and they will look forward to the activity all the more.