Doodling Doodles - Calming Kids with Art Activities

Butterfly doodle

Doodling is not only a great way to pass the time, but also fantastic as a stress reliever.

I used to doodle a lot when I was in school and also before I had kids. But kids just take up so much of my time that I have not been able to put aside time to do the things that I used to enjoy.

Like crafting.... and doodling.

Since the older kids are revising for their exams now, I try to keep the little one quiet by getting him to do quiet activities.

The annoying thing is if I were to give him a piece of paper and ask him to draw, he would simply refuse. BUT... I have found that if I were to take a piece of paper and start doodling myself, he would join me. Every SINGLE time! 

It has been amazing to see the effect of doodling on him - it calms him down almost immediately and the house is peaceful and conducive for the older boys to revise. And to be honest, doodling calms me down too! Exam period is a time when the stress level all around is at an all time high, and doodling helps me to unwind while at the same time still enables me to keep an eye on all 3 boys. 

It doesn't require any planning. No mess and clean up involved. All I need are some pieces of paper, pencils, eraser and sharpener.

Here are some doodles the little one and I have been doing lately.

It always starts with his favourite caterpillar, obviously. 

His caterpillar and butterfly, with lots and lots of leaves for them to eat.

Followed by his favourite cable car. 

His cable cars on top of the happy mountains.

Why we prefer DOODLING to colouring. 

I have found that all of my 3 boys do NOT like colouring. My little one in particular, despised colouring so much. He often got frustrated when he could not colour within the lines.

So, instead of a relaxing calming activity, it became an unpleasant and frustrating experience for him. Which is completely the opposite of what I wanted to achieve!

Below is a doodle I drew for him. A caterpillar, butterfly and some flowers to start with. But as expected, he soon got tired of being confined within the dreaded lines and started whining and becoming unhappy.

But when I took away the colour pencils and exchanged them with a pencil, he began to happily doodle all around the drawing. Like magic! He was calm and happy again.

Doodling is fun, relaxing and extremely addictive. Go on try it out and see how it goes!