How to organize a group collaborative sketchbook for kids!

I have a super artsy craftsy tween who has been asking me to come up with ways to get more art in her life. We’re giving a group/collaborative sketchbook a whirl in our (secular) homeschool group – I couldn’t find any examples online so I’m sharing how I set it up! It just started circulating so I can’t report on how it’s going, but I’m hopeful!

First, a quick shout out to the bag I made to house the sketchbook. I’ve shared both about upcycling promo tote bags and making DIY tshirt letters, and this project combined both of them! My decorative stitching is a little uneven which serves me right for doing it at 3 AM the night before I needed it done.

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How to organize a group collaborative sketchbook for kids

For the front cover, I designed the pieces out of old magazine clippings and then scanned it and printed it out! Since this was going to be handled often, I used a double-sided adhesive to make sure the edges didn’t pull up like I feared a gluestick would eventually. This is a big, fat sketchbook that I bought off Tiktok a long time ago.

I spend a chunk of time trying to find the perfect sticker or PDF printable to put inside the cover but didn’t see any that fit just right.. so I made one! This is an unattributed quote I stole off pinterest and collaged on top of a handmade gelli print. I’m really pleased with how this turned out!

I figured some basic ground rules were a good way to start, this is what I came up with.

Covering up my phone number here, but a note on how to get it back to me if someone forgets it somewhere!

I separated the three different sections with these permanent tabs and printed directly on them.

First up is the guided sketch section! I personally really appreciate prompts and framework, so this was the idea that first came to my mind when I was thinking about this project.

I plan to rotate out these prompts after it’s been passed around, but here is the first one.

An example of art that my daughter started off with, isn’t it sweet!

Second section is more of a free-for-all! Kids can draw whatever they’d like, or include photos/scans of work they’ve done that they wanted to share.

Here is a painting that my daughter wanted to share- I printed it on photo paper and glued it in.

Last and arguably the most fun – a collaborative sketch section! I’m curious to see where this goes!

My daughter drew a shark to start with and my son added a little skeleton in its stomach – I can’t wait to see what everyone else adds!

The other thing in the bag is this plastic holder – I included an example of the prompt with some reminders (the no painting is just because it has thin paper/it’s not designed for multimedia!).

As well as a thick plastic sheet that slides easily under a page to protect the pieces underneath it! This is a thin plastic piece from last year’s planner – a thin cutting board would work if you don’t hoard things like that, too.

So that’s it! I can’t wait to get it back full of art to look through and pass back around with a new prompt. I’d love to hear if you’ve participated in anything like this – and leave a comment if you’d like a PDF of the rules and section headers, I’m happy to create it if anyone would actually use it! I made them all in Canva so nothing fancy but could save someone time if they want to try this project out.

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