Each year we get to borrow books from our school district. My kids love to draw, so I borrowed Draw Write Now by Marie Hablitzel and Kim Stitzer. The series is geared for 5-10 year olds and features colorful pictures with step-by-step instructions that introduce letter formations and sentence structure to youngsters. Here’s an example of how the series teaches kids to draw a swan. 
Once they have completed their drawing, depending on their writing level, they can copy some or all of the sentences in the example shown on the right. You could take it a step further and have them write a story or something they may have learned in another lesson.
There are topics that can go along with your lessons on handwriting, history, science, or geography. At Thanksgiving, my 10 year old son, Isaac, chose to draw the turkey from book 1.
I’m excited to say that my kids ages 6-10 LOVE the books! I don’t often set up a time for art lessons because they draw and create art throughout the week. What my 6 year old daughter likes about these is that she can follow the directions without reading. My 10 year old son likes that he can quickly draw the pictures, then build on them. His picture of the turkey is more realistic than the one shown in the book.
When we were done borrowing the books, we chose to get all 8 books because our kids used them nearly every day and we felt that it would offer the kids the opportunity to draw about topics that inspired them. Typically, it’s cheaper to get books in a set. We ended up buying them in a brand new set because we know we’ll use them for years to come. Fortunately, you can get them in sets new or used on Amazon.
Have you tried Draw Write Now? If so, what were your experiences? If not, which art books do you recommend?
