How to Draw for Kids

This page lists every how-to-draw tutorial on the site, grouped by topic. Each one starts with a simple shape and adds a line or two per step, so a child can follow along and a grown-up does not need to know how to draw. Every tutorial has a free step sheet you can print.

Open sketchbook with a simple cartoon cat drawn in marker and colored orange, with a pencil and crayons

All how-to-draw tutorials

Step by step drawing for kids: how each tutorial works

  1. Shapes first. Circles, ovals and rectangles make the body.
  2. Pencil lightly, then trace with a marker. Erase the pencil when the ink is dry.
  3. Details and color last. The last step of every tutorial is color.

What you need to draw with kids

A pencil, an eraser, plain printer paper and one black marker. Crayons, colored pencils or markers for the last step. That's all.

Get the free step sheets by email

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Questions parents ask

How do you draw step by step with a child?

Sit next to them and draw your own copy at the same time, one step behind or alongside. Read the step line out loud, wait until they finish, then go on. Stop when they want to stop.

My child gets upset when it doesn't look right. What helps?

Say what you see instead of judging it ("You gave him a long tail"). Draw lightly in pencil so mistakes erase. And remind them the picture on the screen is one way to draw it, not the right way.

Keep drawing