As with all media, we begin with drawings. In 2nd grade and because we ONLY have 35 minute classes I needed to limit the content focus in order to be able to provide the resources they'd need to practice their drawing skills. Most kids, when they begin drawing they draw, or at least attempt to draw a silhouette of the figure they are trying to depict, yet, in doing that they often fail, for that is a tall order for that age group. Even for me, I'd have a hard time drawing a simple bird silhouette. Instead, I have them "see" the shapes embedded in the more complex figure and draw those. As shown in the image above, a complex bird is simply a circle, and a semi-circle. Bringing the image down to it's essentials makes drawing much simpler and manageable.
As you can see with these drawings the simplification of the more complex figures helps tremendously in rendering a more complex figure.
In cases where kids still struggled in drawing a figure, I would sit beside them and do a side-by-side draw with them as indicated in the image above.
Here are some links to videos of the process after these drawings:
This link above shows how kids used their drawings and understanding of their drawings to create a stamp.
This link above shows how we used our drawings to inform a collage, which in turn will be used to create a collagraph using folder paper (card stock).
