InvitationtoDraw Format: Paperback

Help children draw and think more creatively by inspiring them with interesting and challenging art prompts and questions.

Invitation to Draw offers 99 open-ended drawing prompts, each one proposing a question to investigate that encourages children to free associate and problem solve. The perforated pages make it easy to tear out prompts for on-the-go activities or allowing multiple kids to draw at the same time. A blank cake provides the chance to decorate a dream confection, an empty house inspires stories about who lives there, and a grid of triangles supplies the chance to explore abstract art. What might be hiding in that tree? What sort of robot can you design? The possibilities are endless!

Drawing prompts inspire and encourage kids to think and draw differently, and sometimes more creatively, than they might when faced with a blank page. By offering constraints such as a pair of eyes or an empty car and asking a question, children begin thinking about the possibilities and answering the question in their heads even before they put pen (or marker or crayon!) to paper. And through the act of drawing and observing the drawing unfold, the brain continues to think and problem solve, opening up all kinds of creative possibilities around that specific idea.

JEAN VAN'T HUL, mother of two, lives with her family in the mountains of western North Carolina. She has been writing about children's art and creativity on her blog, The Artful Parent, since 2008. A graduate of Wellesley College with a major in art history and studio art, Jean worked in various art and nonprofit fields before devoting her time to writing and raising kids. She loves to share process-oriented art, seasonal crafts, and joyful learning opportunities with her own daughters and through her children's art groups, her magazine articles, and on her blog, which has over 700k followers on Facebook.