Set up a drawing corner at home in 10 minutes

Children draw more when drawing is easy: when the paper is already out, the crayons are within reach and nobody has to ask. A drawing corner doesn't need a spare room or a craft budget. A corner of the kitchen table and a box will do.

1. Pick a spot near you

Young children like to draw where the grown-ups are. A corner of the kitchen table, a low coffee table or a small table in the living room usually works better than a desk in a bedroom.

2. Keep the supplies simple

• Chunky crayons: easy to grip and hard to break.
• Thick washable markers: bright colours with little effort.
• A stack of plain white paper: printer paper is perfect.
• A few extras: coloured paper, stickers, a glue stick, tape.
• Child-safe scissors: for older preschoolers, with a grown-up nearby.

Fewer supplies beat more. Ten good crayons in a cup invite drawing; a hundred in a tangled box invite tipping them all out.

3. Make it reachable

Keep everything low down in an open box, basket or tray, so your child can start, and tidy up, without help.

4. Add a gallery

Hang a piece of string on the wall with a few clothes pegs. New drawings go up, older ones go into a folder. Children love seeing their work on display, and every drawing gets somewhere to go.

5. Give it a tidy-up routine

Lids on, crayons in the cup, paper on the pile. A short, predictable routine keeps the corner ready for next time.

6. Refresh it now and then

Every few weeks, swap something: chalk instead of markers, a roll of paper on the floor, a new colour of paper. Small changes make the corner feel new again. Our 30 drawing ideas are handy to pin up nearby too.

Leave the tablet somewhere else

A drawing corner works best as a screen-free spot. With Mookmik World, all of the drawing happens here, on paper; the phone only comes out once the drawing is finished.