TV on a Rolling Cart

Draw Zoom Squirrel

From Kennedy Center: Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems · 2020

Draw Zoom Squirrel
20 minK1st2nd3rdReading & Writing (ELA)
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Summary

Episode 13 features Zoom! Squirrel from Mo's Unlimited Squirrels beginning-reader series. Mo draws the fast, high-energy squirrel and talks about how motion lines, open mouths, and tilted bodies communicate speed and excitement on the page.

Viewer safety

All ages
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Teaching resources

Discussion questions

Discussion

  1. What lines in the drawing make Zoom! Squirrel look fast? Point to the specific marks.
  2. How is drawing a fast character different from drawing a calm one? What changes in your hand?
  3. Unlimited Squirrels is a beginner reader series -- short text, big pictures. What do the pictures have to do that words can't do on their own?

Quick work-a-long

Vocabulary: motion lines, energy, beginning reader, expressive pose.

Try it: Draw a character doing something slow (sleeping, tiptoeing), then draw the SAME character doing something fast (running, sneezing). What changed in the drawing?