Printable: Weekly Planner with Doodling Space

 
I love doodling. It’s fun. It’s pretty, but doesn’t need to be. It’s “no-expectations”, “let’s-just-see-what-happens” type of work.

 
I love planning. It helps us in being wise with our time. I always over-plan. Over the years, my approach to planning has morphed into more of a collection of stuff that I think will work. A bucket list, if you will. My planning has also become a “no-expections”, “let’s-just-see-what-happens” type of work.

 
I’ve put together a free printable weekly planner with doodling space to combine my love of doodling and planning.

 
Click here for the free printable colour version of the weekly planner with doodling space.

 
Click here for the free printable black and white version of the weekly planner with doodling space.

 
I doodle down ideas for our week ahead in the large box on the right hand side. I love using colours, lines, circles, arrows, etc. It’s my mind map. A space for me to quickly doodle down things as I think of them.

 
I use the smaller boxes on the left hand side to record what we actually get to do during the week. I also jot down any spontaneous activities or interests that pop up during our week together.

 
The lovely thing about this planner is that it can be whatever you make of it. Use it as a weekly meal planner; jot down meals on the left hand side and use the large box for your shopping list. Or use it as a journal template; use one side for photos and the other for notes.

 
I think I may get my preschoolers to start using this for their first journal. Draw pictures of the day’s highlights in each of the smaller boxes and use the large box for photos of our time together during the week.

 
I would love to hear how you use this weekly planner with doodling space.

N & M: 4 years, 3 months
E: 2 years, 2 months
K: 10 months

September 2012

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Art: Drawing Faces

 
A child’s drawing skills becomes more complex as their fine motor skills develop. After many drawing and scribbling experiences, as a child approaches the 3 or 4 year old mark, they begin to explore representation in their drawings. Their circular shapes become faces and first images of people.

 
I noticed my preschool son drawing people, with a head and a few other body parts. I was keen to take advantage of his interest in representation and engaged him in a conversation about his drawings.

 
Engaging children in conversation about their work allows them to think more deeply about their work and allows for more meaningful experimentation.

 
Using a mirror, I invited him to explore faces and its features. Together we discussed our physical characteristics: our eyes, ears, nose, mouth, chin, hair.

 
You can extend these discussions and build up your child’s vocabulary of a given physical characteristic. For example, when talking about eyes, incorporate these words where appropriate : blink; blue eyes; brown eyes; hazel eyes; green eyes; grey eyes; eyebrows; eyelashes; eyelids; wink. Or for mouth: chew; eat; lips; sing; smile; speak; talk; taste; teeth; tongue.

 
After our conversation about faces and using the mirror and himself as a reference, he began to draw faces with more defined facial features. Scribbles made their transition to representations.

 
It takes time and effort on our behalf, but investing in conversations with children about their work helps them realise and become aware of their potential and ability. Even those children who are reluctant to draw are usually very proud of their newly discovered skill.

 M: 4 years
June 2012

The post Art: Drawing Faces by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

• At 12 months – 2 years the crayon is held initially in the palm with the thumbs pointing upwards (in a dagger grasp); the child scribbles vigorously in imitation; often draws a stroke then covers it with many scribbles; and is able to imitate drawing a vertical line.
• At 2 – 3 years the crayon is often held across all fingers in their palm with thumbs pointing down (pronate grasp); the child imitates drawing a circle; and is able to copy horizontal and vertical lines.
• At 3-4 years the crayon may be held with all four fingers on the pencil shaft opposite the thumb (quadropod grasp) or just their index thumb and middle fingers in a static tripod grasp (where the movement comes from the wrist) or a dynamic tripod grasp (where the fingers move independently for optimal accuracy in writing and drawing).

So, at the 3-4 year mark, whether your child has a quadropod grasp, a static tripod grasp or a dynamic tripod grasp, he/she has gained enough control over the pencil or crayon to be able to copy circles, imitate a zig zag line and join two dots as well as draw a man with a head and one other body part. Humans are so wonderfully made, wouldn’t you agree?

I came across this game for practising drawing circles from a really great blog, but for the life of me I can’t backtrack and find the blog and post. (If you know where it’s from, please comment here so I can acknowledge them because this game is such a great idea).

Draw a circle on a piece of paper. Then draw another circle within that circle.

And another circle within that circle. Continue till you can’t draw any more circles and can only fit in a dot.

I provided some scaffolding by taking turns drawing circles with M.

Big pieces of paper and crayons make it easier.

When drawing, watch out for hunching over the paper; gripping the crayon too tightly; reverting to pronate or dagger grasp; not crossing the midline of the body but swapping hands throughout the activity.

M extended the learning experience by folding up the circle into quarters and cutting along the curved lines we had drawn. Cutting is another skill that develops as a child’s fine motor skills matures (check out our cut out snowflakes).

 M: 3 years, 9 months

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I decided to stick with the traditional and simple, “get the kids to draw something” approach. Of course, I’ll add stuff to it to finish it off…. (please tell me I’m not the only mother who embellishes their children’s work every now and then).  There are some great free printable designs out there for Father’s Day. Check out My Pigeon Pair for some ideas. I loved the “Keep Calm and Daddy On” design from The Hand’s-On Housewife.

 
This year, our Father’s Day gift is a revolving photo box.

 
I prepared the following items:

• Blank glossy photo paper. I had quite a few ready as I knew my boys would need a few goes experimenting before we had some that we could use.
• Good permanent coloured pens – (this activity needed to be closely supervised so that my furniture, walls and curtains remained scribble free).
• Printouts of the “Keep Calm and Daddy On” design.

 
Add kids (and lots muttered prayers for patience). I asked them to draw “Daddy”. They got sidetracked and drew turtles. We got there eventually.

 
I selected their clearest drawings of Daddy, added the “Keep Calm and Daddy On” design, and an hour later, we have one Father’s Day gift ready to go. Yay! Wishing Dads a wonderful Father’s Day this Sunday.

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