Sketchbook Prompts

I have been teaching a 5th and 6th grade art elective where I receive a fresh group of students each trimester.  My school offers this amazing opportunity, where students get to choose from a list of engaging specials classes and have a daily hour long session first thing every morning.  I have had some students repeat my class every cycle, while others are trying out new things.

I start each cycle with a sketchbook making or bookmaking project.  We spend the first week building sketchbooks, decorating them, personalizing them and drawing inside.  It gives me a chance to get to know all the students on a more personal level and they LOVE making something that is their own.

The first cycle, we created sketchbooks from scratch and although I loved the challenging aspects of it for my 5th and 6th graders, the problem solving aspects were a little too time consuming.  For the last two cycles, I ordered a convenient bookmaking set from Blick Art supplies... each student counts out 30 pages, receives two pieces of cardboard and a spiral and they assemble it themselves.  I have tons of scrap paper and craft items for them to decorate with.  Adding magazines into the mix is a fun alternative.  They can collage images on and they love finding words and letters to add their names and favorite sayings "ransom-note" style.

We do some guided projects in the sketchbooks, but for the most part it is for them to work freely.  For this cycle though, I opted to design my own list of Creative Prompts for the students to pull from.  The students guard their sketchbooks, but I will try to take some images of student completed prompts to share if I can.

Sketchbook Prompts

·       Design an album cover for your favorite musician or band.

·       Draw a picture using the hand you DON’T draw with.  (Righties draw left, lefties draw right)

·       Create a composition of two faces using only line

·       Draw a fictional woodland creature

·       Draw a close up of someone’s hair

·       Draw a picture of a person that is falling

·       Draw a creepy insect

·       Draw something the smells disgusting

·       Draw a garden

·       Illustrate a cartoon-style family portrait

·       Draw a silly monster

·       Draw a picture of your bedroom

·       Draw a picture of your DREAM bedroom

·       Draw a hybrid of two of your favorite animals

·       Fill up your paper with lines

·       Draw the inside of your closet

·       Design a scene or world in a jar

·       Be an ant – what would you see?

·       Draw your own team of robots

·       Have someone else scribble a line for you and then turn it into a monster.

·       Draw a picture of something or someone in this room.

·       Make a list of things you’d rather be doing and illustrate it.

·       Make a list of what you would do if you ruled the world and illustrate it.

·       Make a list of things that you collect and either write the significance or illustrate it.

·       Draw a picture of you on the last day of school.

·       Illustrate a picture of how testing makes you feel.