I've always been so intimidated by drawing- in fact, I decided to major in Photography because I wanted to do art but was scared to draw! When a friend was teaching me to carve stamps, she said something so eye-opening: the secret to drawing is to just keep drawing. Giving your children unlimited, fun, casual drawing supplies can help them love drawing, and will buy you a little extra time to get dinner done.
- I love so many things about this Mealtime Masterpiece placemat pad from Rocket St. George. First, they look so cool- and imagine how they'd class up your refrigerator! Second, I love the sophisticated, conflicting messages they send kids: greatness is always possible (so you might as well have an awesome frame), but there's always another sheet of paper (so don't get stressed out).
- The Doodle Tablecloth from ThinkGeek can help your kids accept that all things are fleeting, as their masterpieces are washed away in the hot-cycle. But that just means an excitingly blank tablecloth the next night! The tablecloth comes with 8 washable markers, is printed to look like a giant sheet of graph paper, and is, apparently, Dungeons & Dragons compatible. You're all set now.
- Dave Hakkens created the Precious Paper Project, a simple but effective way to help kids (and hesitant adults) drawing. Project 1 is a large roll of white paper printed with silly words (peanut plane, balloon phone) that encourage kids to let loose, while also encourage reading and storytelling. Project 2 is printed with lines and shapes that kids can use as jumping-off points for their own drawings. Project 3 is a roll of blank white paper, with a list of tips & tricks in case all that white is a little too intimidating. The finished paper is intended to be used as gift wrap, making it precious wrapping paper indeed.
- Doodles At Dinner from Uncommon Goods is a bit more structured, perfect for those nights when kids are burnt out from school and aren't up to creating a masterpiece from scratch. Each page contains handy drawing tips, too.
- Finally, the options I would choose (the one I chose for myself, in fact) is simply a roll of kraft paper. Available from Uline and many other places, kraft paper is amazingly cheap. Unlike the placemats which come in packs of 36 or 48, a roll of kraft paper feels unlimited, freeing the young artist from feeling like she only gets a certain number of attempts. If she "messes up", there's always more. Cover the table with kraft paper and let the whole family go to town. If your child is old/coordinated enough, a cutter as shown in the photo would be amazing. She can tear off whatever size paper she needs, creating independence and a nice, clean edge.
(All images as credited above, except for kraft paper from Braun Packaging Inc.)
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I love this! I was really, really into drawing as a kid, so this was my parents' foolproof tool to keep me quiet at restaurants and at church. My favorite place to go was an Italian restaurant with paper tablecloths - I would go crazy with the crayons and create these huge landscapes with aliens and dinosaurs and whatever. My mom actually saved a few! If you have an artistically inclined kid, I think this is a great tool to both foster creativity and encourage good behavior.
I love this post! My parents never really encouraged draw and even though I loved art class I never considered myself an artist until late in college since I hated/"was bad at" drawing. So I majored in sculpture... I also found the more you do it the less painful it becomes.
Now, my son and I draw on magnadoodles every night at bedtime and I love it encouraging him to keep drawing and try it again even at two he does a great job.
Our family loved going to those Italian restaurants with the paper tablecloths, we're a big family, and everyone (except my dad, who claimed to have no artistic skills) would bust out the crayons and draw the hell outta that tablecloth. I usually had to have the crayons wrestled away from me so I would eat. Wish we would have had paper tablecloths at home!
We cover our LONG table with a roll of paper before dinner parties with friends. Out come the pencils and crayons and it makes for some fun times! We've had everything from arty sketching to our kids contributions and impromtu word games like hangman...even dot to dot. Seems everyone likes something in their hands to fiddle with :)