Form Drawing Made Simple: How We Do It and Why It Helps

Drawing is one of those things I really enjoy - but I’m not great at it. My skills more or less stalled around age ten. Give me a blank page, and I’ll probably draw a house, a tree or a person with their feet sticking out to the sides.

Like a lot of things I’m not naturally good at, doing it with my kids has meant starting from scratch - which I actually enjoy. It puts us on a level playing field, where we’re learning together.

That’s what led us to form drawing. I wanted something that started with the real basics - the building blocks - and gave us space to explore side by side. And yet it's benefits reached surprisingly further.

Form drawing is often used in Waldorf education that usually starts when children are around 6 or 7. It takes a slow, steady approach - beginning with simple shapes like circles, waves, and spirals - and gradually builds up to more complex designs, like Celtic knots and Islamic geometric patterns. The idea is to help children develop a natural sense of form, balance and symmetry through flowing lines and patterns.

It starts simply, is easy to follow, and turns out to be a really calming, connecting way to spend time together - all while quietly building a strong foundation for more creative and complex work later on.

Resources We Use

Books:

• Form Drawing book - This book walks you through the different patterns from ages 6 - 10 with an explanation of the benefits and how to know if your child is ready. There’s a lot of theory within this that you can take or leave depending on how you feel about it. But I like this book for the way it builds the forms up slowly, and it means I can practise before doing it with the kids.
• I recently discovered this workbook online - and other similar ones too - which also look as though they'd be really useful to work through.

Videos:

• Ripple on YouTube - These are the best videos I’ve come across for form drawing. She covers different ages (based on US school grades) and slowly talks you through how to draw each pattern. It’s really relaxing to watch! I tend to use this to watch and practise myself first, rather than having the kids watch, mostly so I can re-do it with them and take it at their pace, especially if it's a tricky one. But you could definitely just use the videos for your child and pause them if that works better for you.

Materials:

• Beeswax Crayons - Although a bit pricey (around £10), these do work best for form drawing and feel really nice to use. Otherwise, good quality wax or pencil crayons would be fine, as long as they’re not scratchy or faint when drawn with. The idea is to make the process just as enjoyable as the final result, so using good quality crayons really helps make it a more satisfying experience.

• Paper - Any type of plain paper works, but slightly thicker watercolour paper makes it particularly nice. We use standard A4 paper for basic drawing and practice, and if we’re doing a bigger pattern or a special piece, we’ll use watercolour paper like this or this.

Here's How it Works:

We might do this a few times a week, or sometimes not for ages. It tends to pick up more in the colder months when we’re indoors more - it’s a great rainy day activity. I've noticed that, like anything, the more often we do it, the more we see the benefits and progress.

I also generally only do this one-on-one with my kids because they're both at different stages and it does require a bit of concentration. Some of the forms can get quite tricky as they progress so starting with something too tricky can put them off.

The idea is to move slowly through the forms, building on each one. For younger children, or to warm up, we sometimes act out the forms by drawing circles with our bodies or making wave-like movements. Then, we practise drawing the patterns, going over them several times, maybe in different colours. The aim is to get into a flow with it so that your hand is drawing the image without you having to think too much about it - but this takes time and practice, just like learning to write.

If they’re frustrated, we always go back to simpler forms or body movements. Don't be afraid to start way back at the beginning even if your child is much older. Rushing too soon onto the next skill, like anything can create frustration and a loss of confidence. There's no rush here, if they're struggling then play around, work on one form, try different colours and sizes or make different pictures with the pattern.

Benefits:

Form drawing offers lots of surprising benefits:

🎨 It builds fine motor skills, coordination and spatial awareness - all of which support handwriting. If your child struggles with handwriting, form drawing can be a really lovely way to build up their skills, stamina and confidence.

🖌️ What I love as well is how it not only focuses on the purpose and act, but on beauty and artistry. I saw my son's handwriting improve when we did this for a few weeks. Handwriting is as much an art - unique to each individual - as it is a skill that can be practised and refined.

🖼️ It’s just a really relaxing, calming thing to do. If you keep it at the right level so your child doesn’t get frustrated (this is really important), it can be such a nice way to spend time together. It’s especially lovely one-on-one - just quietly drawing alongside each other. Add some music and maybe a candle, and it can feel really peaceful ✨

🤲 Helps kids build coordination and focus through calm, flowing movements. Rather than a focus on a perfect drawing, the focus is on feeling the movement and finding balance.

🪢 It lays the foundations for understanding geometric concepts, recognising patterns in music and nature, and even understanding cultural patterns and symbolism.

🖼️ Form drawing helps children build the skills to create their own pieces. They start with smaller shapes and patterns, which can then be combined into bigger, more detailed scenes - like a forest or even a medieval battle.