Giant Directed Drawing Round-up for Preschool, Pre-k, and Kindergarten

Directed drawings are a great tool in a preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten classroom! They can be used to practice following directions, develop fine motor skills, and teaching students how to draw lines and shapes to create pictures. I have over 60 directed drawings so you can do these the whole year!

Grab a few or ALL of the directed drawings here!

So, what exactly are directed drawings? They are step-by-step directions to create a drawing of an object using simple shapes and lines. These are great for teaching following direction skills and fine motor development! Something to remember is that directed drawings do not replace open-ended art. Make time for open-ended art, too, so students have the opportunity to create, express themselves, and use their imagination that is process-focused, not product-focused.

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Benefits of Directed Drawings in the Early Childhood Classroom

• Directed drawings strengthen students’ fine motor skills and child development, including hand-eye coordination, muscle strength, pencil grasp, and drawing simple shapes and various types of lines.
• Directed drawings teach young children how to draw by noticing shapes in objects and how to combine shapes to make new things.
• Directed drawings are an easy way to infuse art activities into the classroom.
• Directed drawings are a calming activity! Art is very calming and relaxing for most students.
• Directed drawings are a fun way to practice following directions.
• Drawing is communicating! You will see growth and more details in your little learners’ illustrations.
• Directed Drawings make gorgeous bulletin boards and student art to decorate the classroom.
• Directed drawings BUILD confidence and creativity even in your youngest students.
• Directed drawings are also great for developing social skills and language development as you learn about your children’s interests. 

These are important skills for your preschool age group to be successful in other subject areas in the classroom. Plus, they are a great way to practice drawing a horizontal line, vertical, diagonal, and curved lines in your preschool classroom. Older students can also benefit from directed drawings! You can practice your drawing activities on dry-erase boards before you put the drawing on paper. 

Check out this blog post to see how I implement them in my classroom! Plus, there are tons of helpful tips & tricks to make these a success in your room. There are even some tips on how to help your perfectionist students! 

Giant Directed Drawing Round-Up

Fall Directed Drawings! For fall, there are so many cute pictures you can make to go along with all the events happening in this season. These are a fun idea for a small group, whole group, or one-on-one. 

• Crayon for back-to-school time or an art study
• Apple for an apple theme
• Spider for Halloween, nocturnal animals, bugs, or nursery rhyme theme
• Pumpkin for a pumpkin or fall theme
• Acorn for fall or tree study
• Turkey for Thanksgiving
• Frankenstein for Halloween
• Fire truck for fire safety or a community helper study

Head to this blog post for more detailed directions for each fall picture!

Winter Directed Drawings! Create some adorable pieces of art for the classroom, parent gifts, or art shows with these winter-themed directed drawings. Plus, get a freebie when you visit the blog post about winter directed drawings.

• Heart for Valentine’s Day
• Mittens for winter, snow, or a clothing theme
• Penguin for a polar animals study
• Rudolf for Christmas time
• Polar bear for a polar animals theme
• Christmas tree for Christmas
• Menorah for Hanukkahh
• Gingerbread cookie for a gingerbread theme
• Snowman for winter, snow, or snowman theme

Head to this blog post for more detailed directions for each winter picture!

Spring Directed Drawings! Decorate your room with some colorful spring drawings! Directed drawings are a great addition to a teacher-directed lesson that helps build fine motor muscles in young students. 

• Earth for Earth Day
• Frog for pond study or camping theme
• Rabbit for Easter
• Kite for spring
• Rainbow for weather, colors, or spring theme
• Leprechaun for St. Patrick’s Day
• Flowers for spring or planting theme
• Butterfly for bugs or spring study

Head to this blog post for more detailed directions for each spring picture!

Summer Directed Drawings! Celebrate the best parts of summer with these summer-themed directed drawings for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten teachers to use. These are bright and colorful and full of charm for summer decorations!

• Watermelon for summertime
• Shark for ocean or beach theme
• Crab for ocean or beach theme
• Bumblebee for insects, camping, gardening, flowers, or summer theme
• Baseball for summer sports
• Turtle for a pond theme
• Flag for Fourth of July, Veteran’s Day, election time, or any other patriotic theme
• Ice cream cone for a summer theme

Click here to see the Summer Directed Drawing post for more directions.

Themes Directed Drawings! The themes set of directed drawings is perfect to supplement all those fun themes we love to teach our students! Don’t forget to check out the blog post to get ideas for background options. 

• Dinosaur made for a dino theme
• Castle for a fairy tale theme
• Toothbrush and toothpaste for your dental health theme or healthy body study
• Pizza for a food or pizza theme
• Bear in a cave for a hibernation or animals in the winter theme
• Dog for a pet theme
• Donut for a sweets or bakery theme
• Birthday cake for a birthday theme or all about me theme

Head over to the blog post for more in-depth information about this directed drawing set!

Book Buddies Directed Drawings! The perfect accompaniment to your favorite preschool read-alouds! These are great for any time throughout the year that you need a book/activity to match.

• Pete the Cat
• Monster
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
• Pigeon
• Coconut tree
• The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar
• Pout Pout Fish
• Llama

Check out more tips and tricks for the Book Buddy set here.

Animal Directed Drawings! Use these directed drawings for all the animal themes throughout the year! These have basic shapes and lines to make them easy for young children to draw.

• Giraffe for a safari or zoo theme
• Raccoon for a nocturnal animals, forest, or camping theme
• Owl for a nocturnal animals, forest, or camping theme
• Pufferfish for an ocean theme
• Tiger for a jungle or zoo theme
• Lamb for your farm theme or Easter study
• Jellyfish for an ocean theme
• Pig for a farm theme

Jump over to this post for all the details about these animal pictures!

Transportation Directed Drawings! These transportation pictures are going to be a hit in your classroom! What little learner doesn’t love to learn about things that move? Directed drawings are so fun for a morning activity or to put in a student’s fine motor journals. 

• Bus great for a school theme, too
• Recycling truck also for Earth Day or a recycling unit
• Helicopter
• Rocketship also for space
• Train
• Hot air balloon
• Excavator
• Sailboat

See the transportation directed drawings closer here.

These directed drawings are sure to be one of your students’ favorite (and yours) activity to do this year! Remember that these guided art projects are not the sole art activities that you do in your pre-k programs. Preschool children also need open-ended art projects with different options. There are so many pictures to pick from; where will you start? Grab the Directed Drawing BUNDLE to get ALL of them!

Check out this video for more ideas on the Pocket of Preschool YouTube channel!

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