Nursery and primary 1 activity

For this activity, you will need a piece of paper and any drawing materials you may have, such as pens, crayons or pencils.

Show your child how to ‘take your pen for a walk’ all round the page. This is a way to describe ‘creating a big doodle’. You can wiggle in and out, swoop about, zig zag or swirl your pen round and round. You can swap colours too!

Ask your child to colour in the shapes created in between the lines you have made. Ask them to choose bright colours which make them feel good.

Why not listen to music whilst creating the doodle? You could match your drawing to the speed of the music, such as fast or slow.

If your child is interested, you can extend the activity by taking the same idea outdoors, perhaps with chalk on a path, or simply by taking the drawing materials outside.

Primary 2, 3, and 4 activity

Explain to your child that they are going to ‘take their pen for a walk’. Read the above description to help your child understand what this means.

Ask them to choose different colours to create their own doodles. They could use bright pastels to create a ‘summery’ mood, and maybe include some rain clouds!

Ask your child to fill in the shapes between the lines, using different types of patterns instead of simply colouring in. For example, they could add spotty or striped designs, rainbow colouring or shapes like triangles. They could mix both patterned and plain-coloured sections.

If your child is interested, and wants to continue with this activity, you can try out lots of different approaches. You could try chalk on a path, or drawing on much larger paper such as the back of an unused piece of wallpaper or wrapping paper. You could use this idea to design and create your own gift wrap to use to wrap a gift for someone special.

Primary 5, 6, and 7 activity

Ask your child to create their own doodle, using the above description about how to ‘take your pen for a walk’. Encourage them to make sure their doodle is detailed and challenging.

Ask your child to read the following:

You have created your own doodle and now you are going to practise being creative to develop further your initial drawing.

Look carefully at the shapes and blank spaces that you have created.

The next part of your doodle challenge is to find and create hidden creatures, animals or objects in the spaces.

Can you see an area that might look like a tree? Can you spot a shape you can use to create a butterfly?

It might be hard at first to see new shapes and objects but being creative takes practice so keep thinking and looking. You can always turn your doodle upside down or on its side to help look at things in a new way!

Can you see a way of using some of the coloured shapes in your doodle to spell out your name?

When you are ready, share your doodle with your family. Ask them what shapes, objects and animals they can spot. Can they suggest new shapes to add to what they have already done?

Why not encourage members of your family to create their own doodles. You can help them, as you are now the expert!