The Secret Ingredient in Teaching A Third Grade Class How to Draw Caricatures

Mrs Johnstons third grade class poses with their caricatures - and I'm in there too!

Mrs. Johnston contacted me a while back about having me come to draw caricatures of her third grade class for the last day of school.

We arranged for me to do my one-hour class instruction about how to draw a face for the kids.

And then I was supposed to draw her and then the whole class.

I realized that while the class was being drawn individually, they would need an activity to do.

So I spent the whole day before the event getting together a booklet for them to fill out and draw in. A make-your-own-book activity.

But that wasn’t the secret ingredient.

So the day came, and I signed into the school and was led to her classroom.

I got there, and there were pictures of the class throughout the whole year artfully arranged throughout the classroom, hung up like a giant scrapbook all over the room.

Then the kids and Mrs. Johnston showed up, and as I was prepping to start, she was making more of these huge scrapbook pages with pictures of the kids to hang on the walls. I realized she had done all this work herself just for this last hurrah with her class.

That wasn’t the secret ingredient, but it was part of it.

So then I got started with the teaching portion on how to draw faces.

I use a grid method to show placement of features, and the class follows me on their own grid I print out beforehand.

I also tell stories, do Q&A, and encourage kids not to be perfectionists because that’s the biggest thing I see that kills creativity. (That and relying on AI to be creative for us instead of being creative ourselves.)

It was fun and pretty successful. I used the same lesson plan I use to teach adults and teens and now a third grade class. I just adjusted it for their age.

But that wasn’t the secret ingredient either.

After that segment, we took a bathroom break and then came back and I drew Mrs. Johnston. She was so excited! And the kids all crowded around to watch.

That’s the fun part for me - the drawing and the reveal (Mrs Johnston loved hers) but it’s still not the secret ingredient.

Then I drew each kid, each with their own little personality. There were shy kids and bold kids. Funny kids and serious kids. Sweet kids and troublemakers (who I love), and the whole mixed bag that makes us all human. I did my best to capture each one and to show that personality in each sketch.

I took pictures of each of the kids with the teacher’s permission, as the kids’ parents had all given permission at the start of the year.

And then toward the very end, Mrs. Johnston asked me to please send her the pictures to remember her class by.

That’s when I finally realized why this teacher hired me to come out and draw her class.

Not for a fun STEAM activity — though that was part of it —

but for her kids to each have a memory of her class.

She even had me preprint “Ms. Johnston’s Third Grade Class 2025-2026” on the bottom of each page.

(I nearly forgot this all-important preprinting and had to get up at 5 a.m. to print them.)

It was at the very end of our time together that I had this epiphany.

The secret ingredient that made Mrs. Johnston special, made her a great teacher.

I turned to the class. “I just want you all to know — your teacher really loves you. That’s why she had me here. She wanted a memory of y’all because she loves you. You’re lucky to have had a teacher like that.”

Mrs. Johnston smiled and nodded. I think I may have seen her tear up just a little.

Love. That’s the secret ingredient.

And that’s also why I do what I do.

I actually love the people who sit for me.

I love the differences in faces that make us all look like individuals — yet we still are all the same. We’re all human. It’s amazing to me how much variation there is amongst faces.

When I draw a person, I get to stare at their face intently for a few minutes, and I really SEE them.

I put down on paper what I see. Then I hand it to them.

And they laugh, cry out how cute it is, or whatever their reaction is — that’s the best part.

And after 27 years, I still love it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

I love people as individuals, and I love what I do — bringing joy to people.

And that secret ingredient makes all the difference.

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A note from Mrs. Johnston:

If this story made you smile, remember me the next time you need something memorable for a school, party, library, corporate event or other event. I even do weddings! (They’re my favorite)

I’d love to come draw your crowd too.

Www.caricaturesbykathy.com

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