Drawing faces with simple shapes

When visiting classrooms I like to focus on simple shapes.  Drawing faces and expressions using variations of circles or ellipses. Students in K-5 classes like to see how quickly and effectively they can capture emotion and expression.  Start off with some quick warm up exercises like drawing circles or parallel lines.  The shape of the head can vary from circles to boxes to boxes with a pointy edge.  Eyes are easy as circles with a simple addition of eyebrows. The mouth can be a minimal curved line, or a big open mouth smile.  Lastly, the hair can give a great deal of character and diversity.  I like to encourage experimentation with the class, showing a number of different ways to experiment.  Most importantly they need to relax and draw with their shoulder for loose flowing lines...(the mouse sketches below are from a previous handout used in class)