Creative Learning with Cartoons

Cartooning is an excellent way to introduce the skill of drawing to students. Its relatable, simplified format allows students of all ages to participate and learn. Cartooning can also be a great avenue to explore other topics. You can use simple cartoons and drawing activities to enhance your studies of literature, poetry, social studies, history, science, and more through creative learning strategies. Check out these resources for teaching cartooning and incorporating drawing into your homeschool, even if you don’t consider drawing to be a particular skill of your own!

Aside from the obvious artistic benefits, drawing can help improve a child’s hand-eye coordination, establish concentration, teach creative problem solving, and much more. Check out these six benefits of drawing time for children.

Drawing simplified shapes and characters–a major component of cartooning–is usually the first coordinated attempt young children will make in their artistic pursuits. There are several ways for you as a parent to encourage these attempts and help the child develop confidence in his abilities, but the main thing is to spend time drawing with your child and to demonstrate confidence in your own abilities–even if you don’t truly feel it! If you’re going to use cartooning and drawing to engage your students in other subjects as they get older, it’s important that they don’t feel discouraged by their drawing skills. Not every child will develop a deep interest in artistic pursuits, but learning the basics and being able to confidently use them throughout their learning career can be just as important as learning any other subject. This blog post from The Artful Parent shares some ways that you can encourage drawing skills, confidence, and creativity beginning at a young age.

If your children show an interest in further developing their artist cartooning skills, check out these free online cartooning lessons. Lessons focus on various drawing subjects, including animals, characters, holidays, clothing, food, landscapes, nature, and much more. (Parents should always review lessons ahead of time to guide students in appropriate subject matter.)

There are lots of ways to incorporate cartoons into your lessons in other subjects, from demonstrating concepts in math and science, to re-enacting scenes from history or literature, to illustrating abstractions in poetry and art.

If you’re interested in taking your student’s cartooning education even further, consider coordinating a cartooning camp with your homeschool cooperative or other area homeschoolers. An HEAV Convention favorite, Dan Nuckols, offers gospel-centered cartooning instruction for a wide age range of students. You can find more information about the lessons offered and scheduling a camp here. 

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