Doodle Art: An Easy and Engaging Art Project

I have to tell you about my favorite quick art project to do in the classroom. This art project is so versatile it can be used throughout the year! I liked to use this art project during:

• sick days/sub days
• weird chunks of time in between assemblies and fire drills
• during my Fabulous Friday activities (activities for students who had turned in all of their work for the week)
• during art time
• during free-choice time

Now I know some of you may say that this isn’t technically an “art project.” We aren’t discussing lines, shapes, textures, or perspectives. While I love those types of lessons too, it is nice to be able to do something quick and fun that the students LOVE. (Trust me, they love it.) Students are very motivated by this project because it allows them to be free in their creativity and it stretches their thinking. If you know me, you know I love to promote “outside the box” thinking.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Take a piece of paper and use a black marker to draw a line or shape. It can be any line or shape. I would often do this about three minutes before my students walked in from recess.

2. Make enough copies so every student can have one page.

3. Students use the line(s) and shape(s) to create an image. They can draw anything they want, but it needs to incorporate the line somehow into their drawing.

4. After drawing, I would give my students black sharpies and let them outline their project if there was time. I also printed out each student’s name onto an Avery 5160 label so their art work could be easily labeled and ready to be hung in the hall.

You can see how three of my students each had a different take on how to use this line.

If you are worried that each student will draw the same picture, here is how I handled that.

1. I would have my students write their name and idea on the board. Each idea could only be used once.

2. Students would write an idea on the board. Up to 3 students total could use that same idea. This method was helpful when just starting out with doodle art or when it was a particularly hard line/shape.

Now I know this isn’t necessarily a “real art lesson,” but I promise you your students will love it. It allows them to create something from their imagination, following only a few parameters.

This art project is also VERY low-prep and easy to implement in a variety of situations.

If you don’t want to recreate the wheel, I have my Doodle Art Set 1 and Doodle Art Set 2 that you can check out. That way, all you need to do is print and go!