Drawn To
Discover is a unique online video drawing program that helps students develop
fine motor skills and cognitive skills. This research-based curriculum also promotes
language development. Drawn To Discover gives students confidence in their
ability to succeed in art, handwriting, math, and so much more. The program
provides a way for parents to interact with their children as they work their
way through the program. There are multiple courses within the Drawn To
Discover program that is available to users. The core of the program features
the course, Drawn To Connections, which
has Ten Blocks within the course. Each Block has on average ten lessons. The
two other courses, Drawing Cursive and
Drawn To Peace, are more supplemental
courses. I will explain each of these in greater detail further on in my
review.
As
homeschoolers, Drawn To Discover has worked great for us. This program is
geared for the homeschool setting. For children in the school setting, this
would also be a great enrichment program. The intended age for using Drawn To
Discover is 4-11 years old. After speaking with the people at Drawn To Discover
I learned that children with autism have had great success with the program.
My 11-year-old
daughter has fallen in love with Drawn To Discover! She is working through the Drawn To Connections course. She loves
to draw but isn’t all that confident in her ability. She has used many different
art curriculums and programs and this one CLICKED! She cannot get enough of it.
She will sit for hours doing lesson after lesson. She has shocked herself by
what she has been able to accomplish artistically. Even though some of the
concepts along the way are meant for younger students, it is easy to work
around. While we are talking about elementary skills such as the handwriting
let me let you in on a bit of a secret. My daughter is a bit sloppy when it
comes to her handwriting. I was a bit giddy when I saw her meticulously copying
a handwritten sentence out below her artwork. After hours of working through Drawn To Connections I began to see an
improvement in her handwriting! I have been shocked at the amazing artwork she
has completed. She has learned about interesting facts relating to science too.
Each
lesson in the Drawn To Connections lists:
- Subject
Matter to be Drawn
- Lesson
Warm Up
- Subjects
Highlighted
- Overview
- Video
- Tools
& Tips
- Final
Image
Some of
the fun drawings that my daughter has drawn include mice crawling across a
pencil. She drew a dragon with fire coming out of it mouth while a mouse is at
the dragon’s feet scurrying to get its cheese. In yet another picture she drew
a botanical picture capturing a radish growing in the ground. Blast off!! NASA
watch out, my daughter just drew a space ship. Meow, such adorable cat pictures
including pictures displaying diagrams such as the iris of a cat’s eye. How
about mouth-watering watermelon showing how to show shading in your artwork.
Or, how about an up and close depiction of a bee, and parts labeled. Wow, was I
impressed with this work of art! So detailed. My daughter drew an impressive
goldfish swimming in the water. There was even shading! The fish looked like it
was looking at you. Loved my daughter’s picture of a branch with blooming apple
blossom’s in various degrees of bloom. Off to the side there was a tiny apple
on a branch. It looks so delicious! I could go on and on about her drawing but
you get the picture. This program is amazing. I look forward to seeing her
pictures after each and every lesson. She is proud and so am I.
My
11-year-old daughter said,
“Unlike other drawing programs, Drawn To
Discover, helps you to draw step-by-step so that you know what your drawing is
supposed to look like along the way. If what you are drawing doesn’t look
right, you can pause the video, work on the drawing, and then restart the video
when you are ready to begin again. My favorite drawing so far was the bee. When
I drew the bee, I was amazed at how real it looked! Some of my other favorites
have been the flower, goldfish, and dog. Another thing that I like about Drawn
To Discover is that each lesson lists all of the things that you will need. I
loved that I got to have my very own HUGE box of crayons of my very own. On
lesson called for the following crayons: Orange, Dandelion Yellow, Asparagus,
and Wisteria. Aren’t those just fun colors!”
In one
particular lesson, students learn about fractions, counting by 4’s, adding, multiplying,
etc. by use graph paper, various crayons such as Goldenrod, Orchid, Aquamarine,
Melon, and Pine Green and then create a fun drawing. Their final drawing is a
circle divided into four parts with dice, with a flower pattern in the middle,
and a colorful jagged pattern in the bottom two sectors. It really is a
creative way of teaching math!
In Block
Two of Drawn To Connections your
student will create something called a “Framed Art Present” which is basically
a full-page collaboration of pictures containing artwork that your child has
learned up until this point. They will draw the artwork on a smaller scale in a
beautiful framed work of art. What a treasure. Each Block builds upon the last
Block. There is a total of Ten Blocks.
In Block
Seven your student will again use graph paper and learn about States of Matter.
They will learn how to draw a three-dimensional box. Their final drawing will
be of three separate boxes in which they will place a solid, a liquid, and a
gas and label each one. Remember, the graph paper is something that is
something that the student will print out from the website.
For the
younger student, there is plenty of work on proper writing of each letter of
the alphabet and each numeral. Basics are very important in Drawn to Discover.
The color wheel, patterns, shading, pressure, all colors, outlining, holding
the pencil, and so much more is covered in Drawn To Discover.
My
9-year-old daughter is working on learning cursive this year. She had fun
working through the Drawing Cursive. The
lessons were engaging and fun. Imagine the lowercase “i” being drawn into the
shape of a hot summer sun, or the lowercase letter “c” being the waves of the
deep blue ocean. If you loop the lowercase letter “e” in a line just right you
just may find yourself getting bugged out! My daughter says, “This is the fun part of cursive.”
My
9-year-old has also enjoyed working through some of the lessons in the Drawn To Connections course. She is my
youngest of six children and tends to not have a lot of confidence in her
abilities overall. She tends to shy away from anything that looks too hard.
Well, she shocked herself when after the first lesson her artwork actually
looked like the teachers! This gave her the confidence to do some more.
Drawn To Peace explores people throughout history
who have shared and promoted peace. Some of the people featured in this course
are:
- Mother
Teresa
- Mark
Twain
- Greek
Proverb
- Abraham
Lincoln
- Winston
Churchill
- Maya
Angelou
- Ms.
Wendy
An example
of one of the lessons is a saying by Mark Twain that says, “When in doubt, tell the truth.” The
picture that the student then draws is of two life-like mice dressed like
girls. One of the mice looks worried and has question marks drawn all around
her highlighted in yellow. The other is happy.
I
absolutely have loved everything about Drawn To Discover. This program has been
a great fit for our family and we will definitely continue to use it. I was
very excited when speaking to the people at Drawn to Discover to hear that they
will be expanding their program both in the preschool area as well as in the
upper grades in the future. I would highly recommend this program to others
looking for a fun way to educate and/or supplement their child’s current
curriculum. Drawn To Discover is truly a gem that I am grateful to have had the
privilege to use.
I originally reviewed this product for The Old Schoolhouse ® Magazine, LLC, March, 2018
