A simple line

In sculpture club I go through the elements of art and we draw in our sketchbooks. I explained how we use lines in art and I asked the children to draw a line in their sketchbooks. Hands shot up in the air and there was a barrage of questions...

'How long do you want the line?'

'Shall I put it here?'

'Is this right?'

'Do you it in the middle of the page?'

I said, I didn't care and I just wanted them to draw a line, I stated that their sketchbooks are for them and no one will be marking them. Some children scribbled all over the page in lines and some tentatively drew a short vertical line. I realised that the kids are clearly taught to analyse information so they get things right, but I wanted them to have the freedom to just draw a line.

Convergent thinking is obviously really important for children to understand important information, but they should also have confidence in divergent thinking too. Art education really helps divergent thinking and will balance out a heavily analytical curriculum.