Drawing Club
EYFS – Drawing Club
At St Gilbert’s RC Primary School, we use Drawing Club as our approach to developing early writing skills in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Drawing Club brings the magic of stories into the classroom, creating an exciting and imaginative environment where children can develop a wide range of skills, including fine motor skills, early writing, vocabulary, mathematics and, most importantly, imagination and a love of storytelling.
Drawing Club is about doing what is right for the children at St Gilbert’s. It is not a scheme, but an approach that can be adapted to meet the needs, interests and experiences of our children. It is designed to be fun, engaging and exciting, giving children the opportunity to enter a world of adventure and imagination. By encouraging children to listen to different ideas, think creatively, share their own thoughts and explore stories through “What if...?” questions, we aim to ignite their imaginations and develop them into confident little storytellers.
Our Catholic Ethos and Gospel Values
At St Gilbert’s RC Primary School, our Catholic ethos is reflected throughout our curriculum, and Drawing Club provides many opportunities to explore and develop our Gospel Values.
The stories and themes we share give children opportunities to talk about kindness, friendship, love, compassion, forgiveness, respect, courage and helping others. As children explore different characters and their experiences, they are encouraged to think about how characters might be feeling and to empathise with others. We ask questions such as “How do you think they feel?”, “What could you do to help?” and “What would Jesus want us to do?”
Through stories, discussions and imaginative play, children have opportunities to consider different choices and behaviours and to reflect on how we treat one another. This supports our children in developing an understanding of our Gospel Values and encourages them to put these values into practice in their everyday lives.
The texts we choose also provide opportunities to explore themes that reflect our Catholic faith and our understanding of ourselves, others and the wider world. In this way, Drawing Club is not only developing children's early literacy skills but also helping them to become kind, compassionate, thoughtful and respectful members of our school community.
Above all, Drawing Club allows children to experience the joy and wonder of stories, encouraging them to imagine, create, talk, question and share their ideas. We want our children to leave EYFS excited about writing and ready to continue developing their skills as they move through St Gilbert’s, with a strong belief that their ideas matter and that anything is possible when they use their imagination.
High-Quality Texts and Vocabulary
Each week, we introduce a high-quality, engaging text chosen to capture the children's interest and stimulate their imagination. Where appropriate, texts are linked to our topics and the wider learning taking place in the classroom.
Children explore the front cover and title, make predictions and talk about what they think the story might be about. They discuss the beginning, middle and end of the story and may sequence events to develop their understanding of characters, settings and key events.
Vocabulary development is an important part of Drawing Club. Each week, we introduce five new words linked to the chosen text. Children work together to create actions for each word, helping them to remember and understand new vocabulary in context. We then encourage children to use these words during their play, conversations and storytelling. This provides opportunities for children to hear and use exciting vocabulary that they may not otherwise encounter.
Imagination and the Magic Button
Drawing Club encourages children to explore how a story could change when a magic button is introduced. Children talk about the characters and imagine what might happen when the magic button is pressed. Characters could change in appearance, develop a superpower to help them solve a problem, or even do something funny. Anything can happen!
Children also explore the settings within stories and imagine how they might be transformed by the magic. They consider how changes to the environment could affect the characters and events within the story.
Through these imaginary adventures, children are encouraged to change different parts of familiar stories and explore what could happen when magic is added. This provides wonderful opportunities to develop their creativity, imagination, oral storytelling and early writing skills, while helping children to understand that they can make their own choices and that their ideas are valued.
Whenever the children draw, they include a magic button. To make their magic work, they add a secret code. The secret code is carefully chosen to support the skills each child or group of children needs to practise. It might be a sound they are learning, a word, a caption or a full sentence. It could also include a number, numeral or mathematical fact, providing opportunities to reinforce learning across the curriculum.
Developing Independence and Early Writing
Drawing Club provides children with opportunities to develop their fine motor control and early writing skills in a purposeful and enjoyable context. Children are encouraged to develop their own ideas, make decisions about what they want to draw and explain their thinking.
As children progress through EYFS, their secret codes develop alongside their writing skills, moving from sounds and individual words towards captions and sentences. Adults provide appropriate support and modelling while encouraging children to become increasingly independent and confident in expressing their ideas.