Draw to Learn
Today I am beginning a series of posts about ways children can learn through a variety of activities. After this post, Draw to Learn, I look forward to sharing Sing to Learn, Serve to Learn, Go to Learn, and Watch to Learn.
This introductory post may sound like a Notgrass commercial, but that is not my intention. While you may find our digital Draw to Learn resources helpful, what I want to emphasize is the whole concept of including activities such as drawing, singing, serving, going places, and watching movies to help your children learn. These activities are helpful for all children, but some are especially helpful for children who learn in ways that are not what people once called “book larnin’.”
During the last few years of Ray’s time in ministry, I worked parttime as the children’s minister at our church. When I began, the curriculum for children up to two years old was basically set. We also had a couple who had developed their own curriculum for the 4th grade Sunday School class. I became responsible for developing curriculum for the rest of the classes through grade six, both for Sunday morning classes and for those on Wednesday evenings. Yes, it was a huge responsibility, but with the help of our own three homeschooled teenagers, I set to work. Meanwhile, Ray continued to develop curriculum for the church’s adults. That joy-filled work was one of the many puzzle pieces God was putting together to prepare our family to start Notgrass History, which we first called The Notgrass Company (TNC among ourselves).
While creating worksheets and activities for children and pulling ideas from a variety of sources for the church’s children’s classes, I once had the idea of children drawing faces reacting to something Jesus had done. As we were moving toward Ray leaving his preaching ministry and going fulltime in our new company, I had the idea of expanding that drawing idea into a combination art and Bible curriculum called Draw to Learn the Book of Psalms. The concept was simple and could be used for any grade from elementary through high school. I figured that since Psalms had 150 chapters, students could do one drawing a day for 150 days. Since the average school year is 180 days, that would be perfect. Students could do a drawing almost every day, but parents would have 30 days to go on field trips and do other activities without getting behind in this curriculum. They could also take more than one day to complete a drawing when the student was putting in a lot of detail. When we later began to write full year history curriculum, we stuck with that idea of 150 lessons (and the 30 days of wiggle room)—all inspired from Psalms having 150 chapters. This has continued to be our pattern for all of our middle school and high school curriculum, 150 lessons for a full year and 75 lessons for a half year.
Again, my purpose for this post is not advertising our curriculum but sharing with you the concept of drawing to learn. I designed each lesson with the number of that lesson’s psalm at the top, followed by a title for that lesson’s drawing. A rectangle frame was below the title. At the bottom of the page was a detailed assignment for the lesson’s drawing.
In the introduction, I instructed the students to: Read • Think • Draw. First, read the Bible passage and think about what it means. Second, read the detailed drawing instructions and think about what you will draw. Third, draw the picture in the frame.
I also encouraged the students:
- To work diligently and spend plenty of time on their drawings
- To show the surroundings of their subjects
- To use real objects, models, and pictures so that they know what objects, people, and scenery really look like
- To draw people even though they might feel uncertain (Their people could be realistic, cartoons, or expressive stick people, and they could try out a variety of styles.)
- To fill up the page
- To do sketches before attempting the finished product
- To have fun and always keep a sense of wonder at God’s amazing power, His work in our lives, and what He has done in Creation
I’d like to share a few of the assignments in Draw to Learn the Book of Psalms to help expand your own thinking about using art in Bible study and other subjects. One individual psalm can contain a variety of concepts. I encouraged the student to read the entire psalm, but the drawing title and assignment usually related to only one concept. I chose concepts that would train the children’s hearts, help them understand God’s Word, and give them a variety of drawing experiences.
Psalm 1—Drawing Title: The person who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night is like . . .
Assignment—Read Psalm 1. Draw some hills with a stream flowing out of them. Think about which fruits grow on trees. Choose one fruit and draw that kind of fruit tree beside the stream. Cover the tree with fruit. Under the tree, draw yourself meditating on the law of the LORD. Make your face very happy.
Psalm 2—Blessed are the people who take refuge in the LORD.
Assignment—Read Psalm 2. Think of a place of refuge. People and animals find refuge in many places. Prairie dogs find refuge underground. A nest is a refuge for baby birds. During a rainstorm, people find refuge in their homes. During war, refugees find refuge in refugee camps. Draw a place of refuge.
Psalm 4—I can sleep in peace, because the LORD makes me safe.
Assignment—Read Psalm 4. Look at your bed. What material was used to make it? How far is it off the floor? What are the colors and designs on your bed linens? Do you keep any pillows or stuffed animals on it? Draw a picture of your bed.
Psalm 5—In the morning, the LORD hears me.
Assignment—Read Psalm 5. Look outside your home early in the morning. Look in several directions. What is the weather like today? Is there dew or fog? Is there sunshine? Where is the sun? What differences of color can you see when you look to the east and then to the west? Choose a morning scene that you would like to draw today and draw a picture of the morning outside your home.
Psalm 9—The Lord rules over all nations.
Assignment—Read Psalm 9. Look at a map of the world or at a globe. Choose one of the continents and draw it. Draw all the nations on that continent.
Psalm 11—Upright people will see the face of God!
Assignment—Read Psalm 11. Someday the righteous will see the LORD’s face! Sight is such a blessing. Look in a mirror and draw your eyes. Keep looking in the mirror from time to time as you draw. Copy the color of your iris. Notice the direction of your eyelashes. Look for the shiny spot on your iris. Remember to leave a white spot for that gleam. Notice the dark pupil and draw that in the center of your iris.
Psalm 15—The Lord cares about how I use money.
Assignment—Read Psalm 15. Get some paper money. Examine it carefully. Look at all the artwork on the money. Imagine that you have been hired to design some new money for your country. Draw a new design here.
Psalm 22—Future generations will be told about the Lord.
Assignment—Read Psalm 22. Dream about a family the LORD may give you in the future. Draw your family tree. Fill up the frame with a large tree that has many branches. Put your name at the bottom and make up a name for your husband or wife and write it there too. Then make up names for your imaginary descendants and write them on the branches.
Psalm 24—All who live in the world belong to the Lord.
Assignment—Read Psalm 24. Fill the frame with faces. Make each one different. Make some old and some young. Use a variety of skin colors. Put hats from other cultures on some of them.
Psalm 129—The LORD is righteous.
Assignment—Read Psalm 129. Make a poster using the words: “The LORD is righteous.”
God has created each of us to be unique. Our fingerprints are unique, and even our way of learning is unique. God Himself is teaching us all the time and the way He teaches each of us is unique to what we need personally. I am convinced that He intends even the unique learning styles of each of our children to be one of the many ways He is training not only them but us, too.
Your hands made me and fashioned me;
Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
Psalm 119:73
If you are interested in learning more about our Draw to Learn series, you can find it at this link.