If your house is like ours, your children probably go through a ton of paper doodling, drawing and tracing. I’d never discourage them from drawing. Even if the paper ends up in the trash, it’s not a waste. There’s so much creativity and learning that happens when a child puts a pencil or crayon to paper. However, I have recently come up with an erasable drawing activity for kids that lets them draw for hours without using more than a few sheets of paper!
How’s that possible? With two things: dry erase markers and plastic page protectors! Actually, it’s three things if you count our “erasers”. You’ll love what we use for those!
A couple of months ago, we discovered the joy of drawing on dollar store mirrors with dry erase markers The hooligans loved the activity, and I got thinking about other surfaces we could use our markers on. The obvious would be a dry erase board, but I wanted something smaller so each child could work individually like they did with their mirrors. That’s when it hit me: plastic page protectors! I picked up a package, and with a permanent black marker and some white paper, I created these awesome reusable drawing sheets!
For your erasable drawing activity, you’ll need:
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To make your erasable drawings, use a black permanent marker to draw some simple pictures on a piece of white paper. I prefer card stock to printer paper for this because card stock is thicker and sturdier. I like to put two drawings (on separate pieces of paper) back to back in one plastic sleeve. With the thinner paper, the ink from one drawing shows through the second drawing. That doesn’t happen when I use the thicker card stock.
The kids love decorating these simple drawings! They use the coloured dry erase markers to fill in their pictures, and when they want to change something or start over they grab a makeup pad and wipe their drawing clean.
At first, we were using paper towels as erasers, but they didn’t work quite as well. The other day when we were using cotton pads for an art activity, it occurred to me that they’d be great for our erasable drawing activities! They’re perfect! Easy for little hands to hold, and they remove the ink better than the paper towels did.
So, what kind of pictures can you make for your erasable drawing activity?
It’s best to keep things simple, and to keep your lines to a minimum. This gives child plenty of white space for drawing and decorating. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Christmas Tree – your child can “decorate” it with the markers
Outline of a House – child fills in windows, doors, chimneys, tree, garden etc.
Various Head Shapes – your child can fill in hair and facial features
Easter Egg – you child can decorate with spots and stripes
Initials of your Child’s Name – decorate and colour
Simple Animal Outlines – for your child to fill in: fish, cat etc.
Outline of a Person – your child can draw hair, clothing, face etc.
Simple Shapes – triangle, circle, square etc. See what your child turns them into.
If you can think of some ideas other than the ones I’ve listed here, I’d love it if you’d leave them in a comment at the bottom of this post for me. I’d really like to add some more drawing sheets to our collection.
For now though, we’re happy to keep using (and reusing) ours! They’ve been a hit!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
