Donna Young's Art Program

When I asked my 7-year-old rising 3rd grader which curriculum was her favorite, she said her art program. Since we let her take art at our co-op, we don't actually do a formal art program at home. It took me a minute to realize she was talking about the Donna Young sheets that we are using for drawing practice until we return to co-op in September. So I decided that I would make a post about them. The best way to describe them is to just take a look at them, so I have scanned one of them to show off my daughter's work.

The purpose of the sheets is for the student to draw the image that is in the first square two times. They need to try to make the image the same size with the lines in the same location within the square as the original. What I have my oldest daughter do is draw her first attempt, then show me so that I can give her feedback, such as, "That line needs to be a little longer" or "This circle needs to be up in the box a little higher." She then uses my feedback to do her next attempt. She really likes this program, and will do two or three sheets in one day. 

My youngest daughter, who is 6, likes to copy it, but would rather rush through it and is not as concerned about doing it the right way. I just go with it, since art really doesn't seem like her "thing." She likes to draw and paint and color, but she has never been the imitator that her sister is. 

This sheet is actually from a collection on Donna Young's site that is for younger children. You can find the downloads here.

If you have older children, there is another collection here.

The nice thing about these is that they are free, and therefore make a perfect interim art program, that doesn't make me have to get the paints out every day!