Bonkerbots on YouTube. Wow! We never thought we would end up having a Youtube channel. Granted we’re still bran new and have a teeny tiny following but that was never the reason for us creating one. As you know, Keith has this pretty awesome gift of being a rather talented artist. I’ll request an image and minutes later he has created one that’s way better than what I had originally described. I love his gift and wish that I could even begin to draw a tiny bit like him. Yes, yes we all have our talents and mine lie else where, which is how we landed up creating our channel.
I mentioned “You should start doing some tutorials” and TA DA! It has been absolutely wonderful creating these videos. As a teacher, I have always enjoyed doing directed drawings with my students and not just for Kindergarten but for all ages. One thing can be said for all of them and it’s that they LOVE IT! It cannot be said enough but Art is insanely important. From my experience teaching in Thailand and Cambodia, the Arts aren’t seen as important. There is a ton of focus on your core subjects and that’s totally fine. Whether I’m planning my own lessons or subbing, I’ll always throw in some Art. It’s quite funny though because I’ve created a little bit of a reputation by walking in a sub class and the kids will go, “Yay, we’re doing Art today! 🙂 ) so naturally, I cannot disappoint their sweet faces.
Some Scarecrows drawn by my Grade 6 students.
Our channel is designed to help young students better develop their drawing, creativity and line work accuracy. The videos can be done by young students or even adults. I have followed all of the tutorials and have really enjoyed doing them. There’s a sense of pride that happens once completing your drawing. You’re looking at it in the beginning thinking , “There’s no way I can draw that!’ or “That’s too hard!” My students have certainly said that. However, once you’ve finished drawing, you’re like Hey, I did that. 🙂 I actually find them rather relaxing too.
I love how my students personalized their Ogres.
There are plenty of tutorials online and so for ours, we chose to not have us speaking but rather just the text. You can play the video and pause if you need more time. It’s entirely up to you. The videos work for individuals, homeschooling or for a class fill of students. I’ve played them off a T.V and a projector, which all works perfectly.
These were drawn by Keith’s students. They look amazing!
So if you’re in the mood for drawing, please check out our YouTube channel. Give our drawings a go and tag us in them, wherever you are in the world. We would LOVE to see yours. 🙂 🙂
I don’t know about you but I feel like it was January the other day and then I blinked and suddenly we’re in November. Christmas is obviously not celebrated in the traditional sense here but our Schools normally throw a combined party and it’s something that the kids really look forward to.
This year will be different of course. The kids were rather bummed to have lost out on their Halloween party and I know they are going to be very disappointed if we are not going to have our Christmas party, but they do understand (sort of). One of my 2nd graders justified throwing a party by saying, ‘We can still have the party, we all have masks.’ That was rather sweet and heartbreaking at the same time.
Luckily, we can still get into the Christmas spirit during our lessons with lots of crafts and activities. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love doing directed drawings with my students. It doesn’t matter which grade you do them with, they are valuable and it really gives the kids a chance to explore their creativity. Many of my students will say I cannot draw that and as we go through it step by step, they realize that they are actually able to do it.
As we are getting into Christmas mode, we just had to do a directed drawing video and thus, How to draw a Christmas elf was made. I really like watching Keith draw too as it’s always fun watching his mind at work. I’m a tad envious because it comes to him so naturally of course. If he asked me to quickly draw an elf, mine would certainly look rather…interesting. 😉
Preparing for a directed drawing lesson is super simple too. All you need is some blank paper, a pencil, an eraser and you’re good to go. For my younger grades, I like to give them a template that contains the horizontal and vertical guidelines. It helps when asking them to draw in the middle etc. The older grades can either draw their own guide in or just follow instructions.
We don’t have projectors in the class, so we normally cart our portable T.V to the class. It’s a pretty big screen so every student has no problem viewing. I also like to draw it with the students, on the white board and also on an A3 sheet. They enjoy seeing mine form and it makes for some giggles when theirs turns out way cooler. 🙂
How adorable is this little fella?
Keith and I both did this lesson with our students. I had 3rd graders and he had some 4th and 6th graders. I was blown away by how amazing my kiddies did. They were completely zoned throughout the entire lesson and they’re really excited to color them. Have a look through some of their pics below. 🙂
Grade 3
I really love how some kiddies made theirs into girls.
A rainbow hat was a cool take.
This one really cracked me up as she drew a speech bubble saying, ‘I will give Vuthin a present.’ haha
These are going to make such a wonderful display. The kiddies get super excited when they see their work hanging up in class.
She’s so pretty and even has lipstick on.
This one reminds me of a certain character from a beloved children’s story. Can you guess who?
Grade 4 and 6
This little guy looks awesome! Love how he zombified him, with the missing ear and scars. Super cool.
Happy Holidays!
Laura
PS: We would really love to see how your kiddies elves turned out, so feel free to tag us on the gram or Facebook using @Bonkerbots.
