11 fabulous drawing books for kids.
My girls both love to draw, design, create and colour. In fact our house is often strewn with papers, notes, journals, diaries, sketchbooks, and all manner of fabulous paper creations.
Recently while preparing for a family vacation I went looking for activity books to keep both girls occupied during two long flights. While I found lots of colouring, sticker books and age appropriate activity books for Miss 5, it took a little more digging to find books that I thought would challenge and inspire Miss 9. Then I came across a great drawing book that I knew she would love, and this set me on a mission to find more drawing books to take with us. These books combine drawing and doodling with colouring, lettering and even storytelling – presenting a range of imaginative, drawn or written prompts as invitations for children to create – and you have to love that!
So today I have am sharing a collection of great drawing books for kids – they’re great for school aged kids. Don’t worry, I didn’t buy all of these for our trip, just three ended up in our carry on bags. There are a number more however sitting in my shopping basket waiting to be checked out…I just need another excuse to stock up! I wonder how soon I can talk hubby into another family vacation?
Great Drawing Books for Kids
As with all of of my kids booklists, each title and image is linked to an online bookstore for more information and reviews about the individual title. These are affiliate links.
Doodle, Imagine, Draw: Over 150 Creative Ideas to Inspire You by Parragon Books: A big collection of engaging and entertaining drawing and doodling prompts will inspire hours of creativity.
My Book of Beautiful Oops: A Scribble It, Smear It, Fold It, Tear It Journal for Young Artists by Barney Saltzberg: Every mistake is an opportunity to create something beautiful! Fans of the book, Beautiful Oops!, will enjoy this play on a wreck-it journal that invites children to decorate, draw, bend and (even) rip!
Draw What? A Doodling, Drawing and Colouring Book by Hinkler Books: Offering lots of fun invitations to doodle, draw and colour, this was a hit with Miss 9 when we were travelling recently.
Doodle Your Day by Anita Wood: With drawing and writing prompts for every day of the year, this book is part diary and part sketchbook!
Laugh Out Loud Doodles by Rob Elliott: If your child loves to share jokes, then this is the doodle book for them!
Marvel Doodles by Marvel Book Group: Fun for children who enjoy comic books and love anything and everything superheroes.
Create Your Own Superhero Epic! by Andrew and Chris Judge: A great doodle option for kids who love graphic novels, the Create-Your-Own and Draw-It- Yourself books invite your child to finish the story – such a great concept! Miss 9 couldn’t put this one down.
Doodle Adventures: The Search for the Slimy Space Slugs by Mike Lowery: Another draw your own adventure style doodle series for kids, the Doodle Adventure books are great for kids age 8+.
Hello Nature: Draw, Collect, Make and Grow by Nina Chakrabarti: Doodle, draw and colour, the pages of Hello Nature guide children in a celebration of all things outdoors in scrapbook form.
The Art of Zentangle by Margaret Bremner: Not just for kids, this introduction to zentangle – or the art of creating images using blocks of pattern – is great for kids aged 9+.
Adventures in Lettering: 40 Exercises to Improve Your Lettering Skills by Dawn Nicole Warnaar: In my later years of primary school I loved experimenting with lettering and this is a gorgeous book of exercises and prompts. In fact, I can’t wait to introduce it to my 9 year old fashion/graphic/interior designer come magazine publisher come architect come art director – yep, she’s one creative kiddo!
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
