One Line Design: Place your pencil on one of the corners of your paper. Draw a continuous, looping line around your paper, making the line end where you started. If you have markers, trace over the line with a dark colored marker. Color the design.
Traced Object Design: Find some objects in your house that you can trace. Trace the outside of each object in an overlapping design, filling the entire paper. Color your design if you have crayons, markers or colored pencils.
Shape Scavenger Hunt: Find an object in your home for as many of the shapes listed. Draw a picture of those items. Shapes: Circle, Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Oval, Diamond (Rhombus), Hexagon, Octagon.
Design a Building: Use basic shapes: square, rectangle, circle, triangle, oval, diamond (rhombus), hexagon, octagon to create a building. You can draw the shapes or cut them out of paper and glue them to create a collage.
Mystery Drawing: Ask someone in your family to draw a loose scribble on a piece of paper. Turn the paper, looking at the scribbled design from each side. See if you can see anything in the scribbled design. Add details to create something from the scribbled line.
Still Life Drawing: Choose 3 to 5 objects in your house. Arrange them on a table. Draw your arrangement. Remember to use the basic shapes (circle, oval, rectangle, square, triangle, etc.) to start the sketch of the objects. Adjust the shapes to resemble the actual objects and add details.
Color Wheel Collage: Look through magazines to find pictures with the colors Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. Cut out pieces of each color to assemble into a color wheel.
Initial Design: Draw the first letter of your name lightly on your paper. Trace around your letter to make a bubble letter. Fill the letter with a repetitive pattern. Color the letter and patterns. Choose different patterns and colors to decorate the space behind the letter (background).
Ice Cube Watercolor Painting: Make frozen watercolor paint sticks by mixing food coloring with water in an ice cube tray or small paper cups. Put a toothpick or popsicle stick in each color and place in the freezer. When the paints have frozen, pull out the ice cubes and use them to paint a picture. As the ice cubes melt, the paints will become more vivid. Paint an abstract line design or anything you want.
Shoe Contour Drawing: Arrange one of your shoes in front of you. Try to draw the shoe by concentrating on the shoe and not looking down at your paper. Focus on the outer edge of the shoe first. Then add the interior details (eyelet holes, shoe laces, designs, etc.).
Fashion Designer: Create a clothing design. Create an outfit for a category of clothing (Sports, Special Occasion, Travel, Business, Uniform, etc.). Draw your design or cut out magazine or sale circular photos to create your own outfit.
Nature Arrangement: Collect objects outside (twigs, leaves, rocks, flowers, etc.). Make an artistic arrangement with the object you collect. Draw or photograph your arrangement.
Portrait: Draw a picture of you or someone in your family. Begin with an egg shape to establish the shape of the head. Next draw the features (eyes, nose, mouth,ears). Add the neck and shoulders. Draw the clothing. Add the hairstyle. You can complete the portrait by adding shading with your pencil or coloring with crayons or colored pencils.
Draw a floor plan of a room in your home: Draw an outline of the shape of the floor. Imagine you are looking down from the ceiling (bird’s eye view). Draw shapes for the furniture in the room. Place the shapes where they are within the outline of the floor. Mark where the windows and doors are in the room. Feel free to add color to your drawing.
Create a Board Game: Think about your favorite board games. If you have any of them at home, look at the design of the board and game pieces. Think of your own, new game. Draw your own board design on a piece of paper. Draw the game pieces on a separate piece of paper. What will you name your game? If you have an empty box at home, you can store your game board and pieces inside. Feel free to decorate the box!
Texture Rubbings: Place a piece of paper over an object with a texture (ex. a coin, brick, wood, leaf). Hold the paper steady and slowly rub over the object with the side of a crayon or pencil. Experiment with different objects to create an arrangement of interesting designs.
Line Design Pattern Drawing: Fold a piece of paper in half vertically twice. Open and fold paper in half horizontally twice. This should create 16 blocks. Draw a different line design in each box (straight, curved, dashed, wavy, zig zag, dotted, scalloped, etc.). Repeat the same line design within the block to create patterns. Experiment with making the lines in different directions, changing the thickness of the lines or coloring the spaces between the lines.
Hand Drawing: Place the hand you don’t write with on a piece of paper. Trace your hand carefully. Place your hand next to your tracing. Examine your hand for details. Draw lines within your tracing to establish your fingernails and lines near the knuckles of your fingers.
Coffee Filter Diffusion Design: Draw designs on a white coffee filter with water soluble markers. Spray or brush water on the coffee filter. Watch the colors spread and mix. This is a great way to review color mixing. Use the Primary Colors (red, yellow and blue) to create the Secondary Colors (orange, green and violet). Paper towels will work as well, if a coffee filter is not available.
Draw a character or Illustrate a scene from a story: After listening to or reading a story, pick your favorite character or part of the story. Draw a picture of the character or the scene you choose.
Personalized License Plate Design: Use your initials to make a personalized license plate. Include numbers that are special to you. Choose a state to include on your license plate. Draw something that your state is known for on your license plate. For example, you could draw the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty for New York.
Scrap Paper Collage: Gather some scrap papers in your home (newspapers, magazines, wrapping paper, paper bags, construction paper). Tear or cut pieces of the papers. Glue on a background paper to create a picture or abstract design.
Landscape: Use drawing, painting or collage materials to create a landscape picture. Establish the horizon line (where the sky and land meet). Add scenery components to your picture (buildings, trees, roads, cars, people, animals, clouds, sun, moon, etc.). Experiment with object size and placement to create the feeling of depth. Create a foreground, middle ground and background.
Neighborhood Map: Draw your house in the center of a piece of drawing paper. Draw the street that your house is on below your house. Add the driveway and yard to complete the property around your house. Draw your neighbor’s houses where they are situated near your house. Build your neighborhood around your house to the edges of your paper and then color.