Karen S. Robbins
SHOE PRINT ART
Hide and Seek Press; 2nd edition, October 26, 2023
Shoe Print Art teaches children how to draw 55 images from a shoe print shape with simple step by step instructions. Starting with a pencil children will draw around the shoe print template and follow the steps. They will add their own creativity with crayons or colored pencils. Images include dinosaurs, monsters, animals, vehicles, marine animals, people, and other favorite subjects. Children’s finished drawings are on each page to inspire young artists. Also included are instructions to make shoe print stick puppets, foam magnets and greeting cards. Putting your best foot forward, you can draw anything!
Drawing
- Increase’s hand and eye coordination.
- Develops fine motor skills.
- Provides a relaxing, pleasurable activity.
- Allows for self expression and creativity.
- Helps children feel a sense of accomplishment.
- Builds self esteem and confidence.
- Supports the whole child in cognition and social/emotional development.
- Helps develop analytical thinking skills.
- Sparks imagination.
Age Range: 4 – 14 years
Grade Level: preschool to 6th grade
Publisher: Hide and Seek Press (October 26, 2023)
It’s fun, quick and easy for children ages 4 – 14 to draw 55 images step-by-step. Karen Robbins has taught this fun method of drawing for over thirty five years. Children ages 3-14 have drawn the images printed in the book. If these kids can do it, so can you!
Putting your best foot forward, you can draw anything!
– Karen S. Robbins
The highlights of this collection of 55 step-by-step drawing exercises-each using the outline of a child’s shoe-are the featured illustrations on each page showing images that real children have drawn, with al their idiosyncratic personalities and verve. Tommy, age 9, has made his foot into a jubilant shark, and Trevor, age 12, has crafted a remarkable, sedate red frog with black spots. Also inspiring are the images of child artists at work at the book’s close; this set of exercises has really been put into practice. For anyone not inclined to use a potentially dirty actual shoe, a standard, simple shoe-print shape is provided as a traceable outline at the start of the book. Suggested art projects, illustrated economically by Marts, are arranged in order of easiest to most difficult; instructions for follow-up transformations of one’s art into stick puppets, magnets, and greeting cards are included at the end of the book. Children’s caregivers in a variety of settings—particularly those asked to think of craft ideas on short notice-will find useful challenges, tie-in projects, and easy group activities. Robbins, who played Miss Karen on television’s Romper Room and is the author of / Think I Can (2019) and America’s Flag Story (2020), has taught this method of drawing for over 20 years. Based on this experience, she asserts ni a concise note for educators and parents that drawing “increases hand/eye coordination” and also, along with other benefits, “provides a relaxing, pleasurable activity.” The enthusiasm evinced for giving young artists an unthreatening scaffold they can use to practice and elaborate endlessly upon (and therefore actually enjoy) is infectious.
Apractical guide to easy drawing exercises using a flexible shortcut that can be adapted ad infinitum.