For a play-of-the-day, try this Halloween double doodle drawing trick. It’s a trick on paper but a real treat for brains, fun and sweet.
What is double doodle drawing? This is the name given to drawing with both hands together by Jean at The Artful Parent. We tried it and it was both a trick and a treat.
For this drawing activity, kids pick up a crayon or marker in each hand. They decide what they might draw. Since it’s Halloween, some ideas are a pumpkin, ghost, or haunted house. Monsters are something else we see at Halloween. Now on the paper, kids draw and each hand doing the same thing. This takes a lot of concentration but it’s quite exciting.
This is a house Big Sister drew. When we first tried this art with two hands, Little Sister could hold a marker in each hand and really liked that part. She didn’t have the idea of each hand doing one side of the drawing. Her two hands scribbled all over the paper but they moved independently rather than being coordinated. About the age of 4 to 5 and older seems to be a reasonable expectation for getting the two hands going together. These are more recent ones for our Halloween double doodle drawing trick. Again, Little Sister moved her hands in different directions.
For an idea of the challenge, you try this too. Even as an adult, I noticed I needed to touch my tongue to my lip. Kids often do this when they are concentrating. This seems to be related to how the brain works during tasks that require coordination and deeper thinking.
The video included is from another double doodle drawing activity on HeartsAtPlay. The explanation made sense, that the brain quits focusing on making the visual image and instead pays attention to the movement of the hands. We no longer worry if we can or can’t draw and just enjoy the doing. Did you and your child find this fun?
Double Doodle Halloween Slideshow from Gail Dennison on Vimeo.