CLEVELAND — I have a little artist in the house. There aren’t enough coloring books and we go through countless reams of paper. As much as I love the videos showing kids how to draw, I also don’t want any extra screen time.
Luckily, it didn’t take much to convince her to try “shadow drawing” on a nice afternoon.
First, I told her to find any toy that she thought would make a cool shadow on the driveway.
Next, we took a piece of paper and pencil outside with those toys. We found a nice sunny spot in the driveway and set the toys down in a line.
Then, she put the piece of paper behind the toys to “catch” the shadow. There were toys that didn’t look as great as others, so we weeded those out and only picked the ones she wanted to draw. Turns out the smaller ones cast a better shadow. And the Troll! That one looked hilarious.
All that was left to do is trace with a pencil!
During the drawing we talked about how the sun is positioned in the sky and how it casts a shadow because the toys are blocking the light. We even worked in some science!
When I was a kid, we also used to trace each other’s shadows. But the little sisters wouldn’t stand still.
In any case, it’s a great way to combine drawing and enjoying some nice weather.
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