Kid-Tested, Designer-Dad Approved

5. Storyboarding
Storyboards are an excellent introduction to cinematic storytelling. Their comic book-like format and straightforward conventions are well-suited to kids. I made a blank storyboard sheet in InDesign and I printed out a stack of them for my son and his friends to use, but it’s easy to draw them out by hand. The simplest version is a box, around 4.5 by 3.5 inches, with a series of lines underneath for dialogue and directions, two-up on a page, with a space to label the scene and number the sequence.

The kid draws the action in the box and adds necessary descriptions, camera movement, sounds and visual effects in the space underneath. Kids eat up cinema language like “SFX” for “sound effects” and quickly absorb describing action in this shorthand form. I find my son’s attention span is well-suited to mapping out a movie in storyboards. Attempting to film them is a mistake, at least at this age. It takes a lot of time and skill to make a movie that competes on any level with what they imagine, especially with the bar set so high by contemporary special effects.

6. Call-and-Response Drawings
Living in Brooklyn has meant many hour-long subway rides, and I’ve been compelled to invent ways to keep my son occupied on these journeys. One of our favorites is sharing a sketchbook in a back-and-forth drawing game.

One of us will draw an element, and the other adds to it, until it grows to cover a whole spread. Usually, we create landscapes populated with vehicles and creatures, but my favorite variant is when we draw people on the subway with us, which the other person has to identify.

7. Restaurant Survival Kit
It only takes an idea to transform something everyday into something extraordinary. Whenever we go out, I bring a small survival kit, made up of Post-its and 3-by-5-inch index cards, tape, pens and scissors. With just this equipment, a table can be transformed into a chill playground without disturbing other diners.

Wrap an index card around a condiment bottle and tape it in place. Let the kid unleash their imagination to create their own potions, lotions or sauces. Sympathetic servers will often contribute more bottles, and a budding package designer (or mad scientist) is born. Index cards are the perfect weight to hold a crease and make 3D paper toys. As long as a quarter inch or so is left beneath a drawing, it can be cut out and the bottom folded back to make a base: instant action figures. Two folds—one at the top, one at the bottom—makes an excellent car. Just a few index cards can be transformed into a menagerie of creatures or a fleet of vehicles. Older kids, adept with scissors, can create wardrobes of costumes to clothe their creations.

MORE RESOURCES FOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

• Engage creative kids in design and the creative process. Check out “Design Dossier: Graphic Design.”
• Check out the “Written on the City” and explore the beautiful side of graffiti.
• The Accidental Creative DesignCast series unlocks keys for being creative under pressure. Find out more.