Squigglings

Squigglings is a free collection of step-by-step how-to-draw lessons for elementary-age children. Each lesson builds a drawing a few lines at a time: the child follows the new line shown in red, adds a few more squiggles, and rubs out the dashed guide lines at the end. The site's motto, draw light and then go bold, is a real drawing habit, and breaking a picture into small shapes is a useful way for a young child to learn how to look at what they want to draw.

The site reports more than 5,400 lessons, which are organized by theme so that a child can follow an interest. Themes include baby animals, dogs, cats, dinosaurs, zoo animals, robots, dragons, sweets and treats, along with seasonal sets for holidays and a school theme. There is a new drawing each day under Today's squiggle, and children can save their favorites. That volume makes it practical for a family that wants a quick daily art habit, or for a parent who needs a calm ten-minute activity tied to a unit on, say, dinosaurs or the seasons.

Lessons run in the browser with no sign-up and nothing to install, and they need only paper and a pencil on the child's side. There are also free iPhone, iPad and Android apps, which the site says work offline and have no ads. The site includes pages of ideas sorted by age, material for teachers, printables and coloring pages.

Squigglings teaches a child to copy a drawing, one step at a time. It is a good way to build confidence and pencil control, but it is not a complete art curriculum, and it does not cover art history, color theory or drawing from observation. Families who want those will need to add them. Younger children may need a parent nearby at first to get the idea of working in steps.