Finish the Drawing Activity | Creative Thinking Art Lesson + Writing Integration

Looking for an engaging, low-prep art activity that builds creativity and writing skills? This Finish the Drawing resource is the perfect way to get your students thinking outside the box while creating one-of-a-kind artwork they’re proud of!

Students are given a simple starting line or shape and challenged to transform it into something completely new. The twist? It’s not what it looks like! (“This is NOT a cloud… this is a ___!”)

✨ What Makes This Resource Special: This isn’t just a drawing activity—it’s a full creativity + writing lesson designed to help students explore their imagination and express their ideas in multiple ways.
✔ Encourages creative thinking and problem solving
✔ Promotes student voice and originality
✔ Builds confidence (there is no “wrong” answer!)
✔ Easily integrates writing into your art block
📦 What’s Included:

• 🎥 Lesson slides to introduce creativity and “thinking outside the box”
  → Guides meaningful class discussions and sets expectations
• 🖍 30 unique “Finish the Drawing” pages
  → Each page includes a different starting line or shape to inspire student creativity
• ✏️ Three writing options for EVERY design
  → Fill-in-the-blank
  → Primary writing lines
  → Full writing lines for older students
• 💡 Prompts like:
  • “This is NOT a rainbow…”
  • “This is NOT a butterfly…”
  • “This is NOT a pencil…”
    → Students reimagine everyday objects into something completely new (pages 10–20 show a variety of these prompts!)

🧠 How It Works: Students are encouraged to:

• Rotate and view their shape from different angles
• Brainstorm multiple ideas before choosing one
• Add details, backgrounds, and color
• Write about their final creation (word, sentence, or full story!)

🎯 Skills Covered:

• Creative thinking & imagination
• Visual storytelling
• Drawing and design
• Writing integration
• Problem solving & flexibility

💛 Perfect For:

• Art class (K–5)
• Early finishers
• Sub plans
• Centers or stations
• Cross-curricular writing integration
• Back-to-school or creativity-building lessons

🙌 Teacher Tip: Have students share their work and explain their transformation—it's always amazing to see how differently each student interprets the same shape!

This is one of those lessons where every single project turns out completely different… and your students are fully engaged the entire time!