I Can Draw and Write Thanksgiving
As a kid, I really loved drawing books that went step by step. I loved learning how other people drew things and always picked up a few new techniques.
I also loved writing. And while I don’t remember ever struggling to know what to write about, I do know that some how to draw books could have been great inspiration.
So I love this idea of putting the two ideas together.
For kids who struggle with writing, don’t know what to write, or simply don’t like writing – an activity like this might get them a bit more excited.
For kids who love writing and drawing, it might just be a fun way to learn a new technique.
Check out this Disguise the turkey Thanksgiving activity for more Turkey fun!
What’s Included in the I Can Draw Thanksgiving Set
The I Can Draw and Write Thanksgiving set includes directions for 7 drawings. Each drawing includes a set of 4 pages (outlined below) to get your kids drawing and writing!
Here are the exact drawings included in the set:
- Turkey
- Pumpkin Pie (slice)
- Mayflower
- Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Pie (whole)
- Cooked Turkey
- Pilgrim Hat
How to Use the I Can Draw and Write Thanksgiving Pages
There are 3 different pages for each drawing in this set.
The first is the ‘how to draw’ page.
On this page you’ll learn how to draw the thing (in this case a turkey). But then there are some questions underneath.
I specifically added the shapes so kids would start looking at the basics of what they are drawing.
My art teachers always said things like ‘look at the shapes’ and it never really resonated with me. It never came easily to me to pinpoint the shapes of the things I wanted to draw.
But when I started looking at drawings and finding the shapes, it started to make more sense.
At the bottom I have a prompt to trace the word.
This was to throw in a bit of spelling and handwriting practice.
The next page is to help us get to know the subject a bit better.
This page has a few prompts on it. The prompts vary a bit since it didn’t seen useful to name a pumpkin pie (among other things).
The idea of this page is to get the kids thinking about the subject. For kids who are going on to write their own story (the last page) this will help them get to know the main character.
For kids who aren’t interested in writing a story, it will get them writing at least a bit.
The final two pages are writing pages for a story. There is amble space at the top to draw their subject again and embellish a bit if they’d like.
Tips to Get Kids Writing
Writing is a difficult subject. I find it is one of the most disliked subjects among parents I’ve spoken with.
And I find it a bit sad because I love writing so much.
I think what kids don’t like about writing is:
- Writing by hand is tedious and not a lot of fun.
- Being forced to write on a particular subject can be boring
- A lot of our focus is writing is getting everything ‘right’. Letters must be formed right, grammar must be correct, sentence structure, paragraph structure, etc. It’s a lot of pressure.
If we start to remove those obstacles, I think we will have kids that are much more willing to write.
Try freewriting. Just tell your kids it doesn’t matter what they write, you just want them to write for 1 minute. Doesn’t even have to be sentences.
Try dictation. I have found that my kids have a lot to say but they do not like the physical process of handwriting. So I use other opportunities to work on handwriting and offer to write it for them.
Let them type. Typing is an important skill for our kids, too. So if they would rather type while writing, let them! Handwriting can come from other sources. Let’s let kids write to write, not to work on handwriting, grammar, structure, etc.
Forgo writing assignments for a bit. Baloo (14 now) really doesn’t want to write essays. In his opinion, he doesn’t need to knowledge. (I disagree but that’s not the important part right now).
I think he’s struggling to write about topics in which he lacks interest. So we’re taking a break from assigned topics, essays, and all writing that falls under this umbrella.
We have plenty of time to get back to it when he’s ready.
Get Your Download Here
Go here to grab your I Can Draw and Write Thanksgiving set:
