Draw what is in front of you

What it looks like when your child can do it

• — Your child looks up at the object more often than down at the paper.
• — Drawing a leaf, your child includes the torn edge and the brown spot, not a perfect leaf from a picture book.
• — Your child adds one-word labels with lines that point to the parts and do not cross.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

1. 01

   Put a real object on the table

   Pick something small that stays still: a spoon, a shell, a leaf, a pine cone. It stays right in front of your child the whole time.

2. 02

   Look more than you draw

   Ask your child to look for a slow count of five before drawing anything, then look up again after every few lines. The object is the boss, not the memory of what a leaf is supposed to look like.

3. 03

   Draw the big shape, then the parts

   Start with the outline, as big as it fits on the page. Then add the parts inside it, like the veins on a leaf or the ridges on a shell.

4. 04

   Label with one word and a line

   Pick three parts and write one word beside each, with a straight line to the part. Lines never cross. If two want to, move a word to the other side of the drawing.

5. 05

   Aim for true, not pretty

   Praise the details your child caught, like the chip in the shell, and say nothing about how nice it looks. A true sketch is the goal.

You will need: A small real object: a spoon, shell, leaf or pine cone · Plain paper and a pencil · A ruler with centimeters

Try it together

1. Try 1

   Put a wooden clothespin on the table and ask your child to draw it.

   Listen for  Watch for the real shape: the two long pieces, the metal spring, where the ends pinch together, any chip or grain line. Look for your child glancing up at the clothespin, not only at the paper.

2. Try 2

   Ask your child to label three parts of the clothespin drawing.

   Listen for  Three single words, like spring, jaws and handle, each joined to its part by a line, with no lines crossing.

3. Try 3

   Ask your child to draw a leaf from memory. Then bring in a real leaf and ask for a second drawing of that one.

   Listen for  The real one should show things the memory one missed: a torn edge, uneven sides, veins where they really are.

4. Try 4

   Measure one part of the object with a ruler and ask your child to write the length beside the sketch.

   Listen for  A number with cm after it, joined by a line to the part that was measured. The unit goes on every time.

Watch for

• — Drawing a symbol, like a lollipop tree or a heart-shaped leaf, instead of the thing on the table. Point back at the object and ask what it really looks like.

If it is not there yet

• — Trace around the object first, a spoon or a leaf laid flat on the paper, then add the inside details by looking.
• — Draw very plain shapes from life, like a mug or a block, before trying leaves or shells.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

• How Scientists Actually Find Out · Lesson 4

  The Notebook Page

  Needs it because the sheet asks for a working sketch of a real object on the table, not a picture from memory.