A Fairy Tale Competition Win

Fairy Tale Drawing Competition

So thrilled to share with my blogger friends who have always appreciated my daughters talents that she won the drawing competition in her school!

I am quite proud to say my little one goes to one of the best schools in Bangalore ! Why I love the school is they give so much importance to arts, crafts,sports and not just academic.This year even cooking was part of the curriculum!! [And they teach chess to 5 year olds!]

Every year they have a drawing competition. This time they had a choice of 2 themes- "my fav fairy tale "or "outer space" and we had to teach the children from home. 

I wanted her to opt for outer space as I thought aliens and rockets would be easy to draw but my 5 year old has a strong will power and decided it was a fairy tale- sleeping beauty to be specific complete with castle ,chariot, fairy and the villain dragon! 

How to draw a castle and chariot

Like in most families , the "mom" was entrusted with the task of coaching her! I was confident of my daughters talent as last year too she had won the school drawing competition  but I was not too sure of my talents in teaching her to draw this particular theme! When she grasped the castle and the chariot with ease, we tried the mandatory princess which was tougher than I thought!

Happy Fairy!

I must admit my daughter's fairy always looked better than mine! We made different hairstyles for the fairy and the princess!

I did question my decision to teach a 5 year old to draw a dragon as I had to practice myself to get it to look like a dragon! but she learnt it so well and I think this fiery cute dragon was the deciding factor which won her the competition ! The spines on the dragon were her own special touch which I hadnt even taught her!

My little ones own Fiery Dragon

Yesterday we got her certificate and prize and I also got a written pat on the back from her class teacher who wrote in her term report card that "creative "support from home was making my kiddo shine in school! Ha Ha I was beaming away to glory!!

I am no art teacher and have no experience in teaching kids [ other than one strong willed little girl] but as a parent trying to get my kiddo to do her best sharing some 

Tips to Moms and Dads coaching their kids to draw

• If you teach what interests them they will always draw better!
• Do ask the child for ideas- believe me they do know how to draw better at times!
• While teaching break down a picture in to shapes the child is familiar with and terms the child knows  eg "U", "W" or "3" or "M"
• Dont be rigid something is drawn a particular way- change as you watch your child draw. If something looks too difficult change it-- eg we changed the  shape of the eyes to simple dots as all else made our princess and fairy look like witches!!
• Practice one element at a time-- even the most patient of 5 year olds are not patient for a long art class!!
• Before a competition always tell them to concentrate on their own work and not be distracted by friends! [I was told several of my daughters friends tried to copy what she was doing and did not draw what their parents had taught them!]
• Give them a sequence on how to draw the scenery eg in our picture I asked her to complete the castle, the chariot, princess, fairy and dragon in sequence and then go in for the details such as the cloud , grass etc.
• Teach them to completely utilize a page and not leave large blank spaces in a scenic drawing
• If you can find out what size of paper will be given to the child in the competition you can help her to practice in similar size papers- my little one has a tough job judging sizes and fitting everything  so we did a lot of practice to get everything to fit well together
• Whatever you try to teach them-- they will do what they want !!
• Enjoy!

Here are links to more School Projects