Teaching Visual Thinking to Youth

As an educator and a visual practice enthusiast, one of the happy things I get to do is bring the two together. This past week I was invited to offer some visual "draw on the wall" instruction to youth at a theatre camp. For two days I had 13 young people working with bikablo icons and cards and my Neuland wall to create visual metaphors of the camp experience and "three card stories" for visual storytelling practice. It was great to see them catch the idea and run with it! Perhaps future members of the IFVP! Like with all of us, some of them evidenced stronger aesthetic drawing quality than others, but all of them understood that what we are working on is combining visuals and text to communicate. I'm grateful for all of those in our community who are working with children and youth to bring the benefit of visual thinking to all they do.