This lesson is an introduction to charcoal drawing for kids as it is quite basic and helps kids get used to using charcoal, getting a feel for it and knowing what it is in general.
Teaching art to kids at home is a great idea, whether you are a homeschooler or just want to incorporate art into your child’s life.
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Charcoal isn’t something you hear about as much as some other art materials and they’re actually a great tool for teaching about shading and shading in art, as well as highlighting.
If you know you need to practice those concepts, this is a great way to do it.
Of course, you can also teach this to a group of kids, just calculate enough space and supplies for each child.
Charcoal Drawing for Kids
What you will need:
- disposable plastic tablecloths
- wet wipes and tissues
- newspaper or just mixed paper
- charcoal pencils of all kinds
- Rubber eraser (Many basic graphite kits come with everything you need)
- white chalk or pencil
- still, living objects for them to look at and sketch
for children:
- ruler
- round object like a small disk to draw pictures on paper for them
Step by step instructions
First, spread a tablecloth down to catch the coal dust and then clean up easily.
Have a set of wet wipes handy. Some kids won’t mind the mess it makes on their hands, and some will need to clean up periodically as they work.
For younger children, which for me is kindergarten through first grade, I pre-sketch a square, in a 3-dimensional shape so they can shade the different edges, or a circle, in which I pre-draw the light and dark areas for them.
Show example
First, I told them about charcoal and showed them some examples of what charcoal looks like on paper, as well as different numbers and types of pencils.
I find it best to just draw a sample and show them your idea, not just show them a finished piece of graphite art.
Simplify this a bit for younger kids and give them a soft, hard, and regular pencil so they can try all 3.
Then I told them the areas to shade, and showed them a block toy (for the objects I shaded) and some other objects so they could see how it would look shaded and lit in real life.
I make sure they know that the part I drew is the highlighted part that they will color in with the colored chalk last, and leave that part blank.
Some people still paint over the lines or even into them, and they can still just erase or smudge a little with their finger and then cover it with white at the end.
Let them try
Let them experiment a little during this process but you may have to remind them a few times which areas need to be darker and which areas should be used with a medium colored pencil and left with more of a dark gray.
Explain that the darkest part is where the shadow is and it should be solid black.
One word of caution I would give you is that with newspaper, some kids will color too much and tear the paper. I prefer this over mixed media paper because it allows for a little softer pencil lines.
For older children, set out a variety of objects at different levels for them to choose from and encourage them to choose only one or two at most.
Then show your child how to identify the darker and lighter parts of each object.
Where the light hits the items at the top is where they should be left blank to highlight and remind them to leave that part for last.
Then ask them to look for different values of black. The darkest shades should again be true black, and they will want to cover the graphite in to get true black. The other lighter values can be in the middle, a grayish black.
You may have kids who just keep layering and end up with very dark drawings. Don’t worry though, the main goal is to introduce graphite more than anything else.
Show shadow
Also, show your child where the shadow falls on the table or surface around the item, as he or she can draw that shadow in as well.
If your child wants to play with them a bit before starting to draw, give them a piece of scrap paper to practice on.
As they leave, remind them that if they have charcoal on their hands, especially on the sides. The charcoal can stick to the paper and ruin the negative space for them, so make sure they clean their hands at least partially.
I store my charcoal with a sheet of wax paper on top to protect it. You can also use a spray fixative to help set the chalk on the paper.
I don’t like using it in class because it has to be done outdoors and it smells bad.
But if it’s your own home, you might like this option.
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Categories: Activities for Kids
Source: fetb.edu.vn