I took a step out of my comfort zone last week. I gave seven one-hour-long draw-along cartooning workshops in two days at a kids summer camp.
I created two distinct workshops – one tailored for kids aged 4 to 5 years, and another for kids aged 6 to 12 years. I set out to teach kids to draw but they ended up teaching me instead! Here’s what I learned:
- I was focused on filling up the hour as much as possible with instruction, independent drawing time, and a gallery walk (or give whoever is interested the option of presenting their drawing). However, attention spans for these age groups reset about every 20 minutes. Thus, plan for a change of pace roughly every 20 minutes or you’ll lose the room.
- Have a backup plan and be ready to improvise. No amount of rehearsing prepares you for a kid (or multiple kids) suddenly asking you to draw SpongeBob Squarepants, Spiderman, a whale, or a video game character you’ve never heard of.
- Kids love being involved. It has been ages since I’ve watched a SpongeBob cartoon so the kids enthusiastically shouted out the details I unintentionally left out. And that video game character I never heard of? I gave the kid the opportunity to draw it for me. He was so excited to show me!
- Drawing games are a great way to fill time especially once kids have been sitting for quite some time and have moved on from the workshop. However, expect a little chaos. Kids will be kids! :) I let the kids draw something on the board for the other kids to guess. A great game to play, however, keep in mind that kids will shout their guesses no matter how often you ask them to raise their hand; kids will make up their own rules for the game as they go; and letting the drawer pick the next artist can make some kids feel left out. Like I said, kids will be kids but in reality, all this is typical of adults, too :)
- Kids will talk over each other as they talk to you no matter how many times you ask them to speak one at a time. This is just normal kid behaviour and a sign that they are fully engaged which means you’re doing something right!
- Some groups will be calm. Some will be energetic. You won’t know which until you’ve walked into the room. See my earlier point about backup plans and improvising.
I enjoyed working with the kids very much. Their energy level was full of joy and enthusiasm for drawing. After all, humans are social creatures and the kids went to the camp to have fun.
Working with kids means whatever workshop I create is really only a starting point and not a script. And that’s what makes it fun for both the audience and you.