Not only do kids move to music, but they also transform the movement into intuitive abstract drawings while listening. We “dance” on paper, creating unique drawings as we focus on rhythm and movement through three-dimensional and two-dimensional space.

One technique is spontaneous doodling. Moving their hands while drawing to the music, they feel the visual rhythms within the dimensions of the paper. It’s not how it looks but what it feels like.

Some strokes can energize us and even create tension. And other types of strokes or drawing lines can relax us and make us feel good. Especially when doing the mindful lines and shapes exercise! Moving from thinking (head) to feeling (heart) enhances creativity. An excellent tool for meditation, artistic “warm-up,” improving coordination, etc.

These drawings are freeing, providing an avenue for self-exploration and how kids choose to express it. Since we use movement and music as inspiration for the drawings, we pay attention to the direction of lines and shapes in space. We connect musicality with visual art and movement through repetition, variation, and contrast.

And when we make choices as we embellish a piece, giving it more color or working with patterns, symbols, or images that may appear, it becomes less of a technique and more of a highly personal form of art.