Learn the step-by-step art of drawing an elephant, adding an adventurous touch to your artistic journey with our tutorial.

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This How to Draw an Elephant tutorial is so fun for the kids to learn the easy step-by-step tutorial on how to make an simple elephant drawing.

Aren't baby elephants the cutest little things out there? Super cuddly and friendly. They are also one of the first few animal names that little kids learn - "eh eh elephant," remember?

If you're past the kindergarten stage of teaching your kids how to write lowercase and uppercase letters e, let's move on to a (slightly) more challenging on e- how to draw an elephant!

It's a fun way to keep kids busy and teach them a few skills.

I've attached a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw an elephant at the bottom of the post. Make sure you check it out.

Benefits of Drawing for Kids

Drawing an elephant requires using a curved line, a few simple shapes, and some short lines. As the kids learn to control and draw each of these elements, they'll be working on their hand-eye coordination. Holding the pencil right will also improve their fine motor skills.

In general, drawing also helps release stress. So, if you feel your child is upset about something or is dealing with anger issues, divert their mind and sit with them to draw. Trust me; you'll watch them cool down in no time.

Drawing also helps kids express themselves, expands their creative skills, and improves their focus. Sounds like a pretty fruitful activity, right?

What I love the most about drawing tasks is that there's always room for improvement. If your child starts with just the outline of the elephant, they can move up to a full-blown elephant sketch. Maybe even go as far as shading the elephant's skin to make it a realistic one.

If you love this drawing tutorial, then don't miss our full list of Easy Drawings.

Tricks and Tips to Make Drawing an Elephant Easy for Kids

Kids are quick to get distracted. If you want your child to finish their drawing, there are two things you must be careful about:

The drawing task shouldn't be too easy. Your kids won't feel challenged enough and might give up midway.
The drawing task shouldn't be too difficult. If your child feels they can't accomplish the final result, they'll lose motivation.

So, add (or remove) challenges accordingly.

You can help the younger children by lightly drawing the outline of the elephant. They'll trace it to complete the look.

As for the older kids, ask them to make a realistic elephant by using shading techniques.

Don't miss our other Elephant Activities including Elephant Coloring Page and E is for Elephant Craft. These are all fun activities in celebration of Elephant Appreciation Day on September 22nd.

Fun Facts About Elephants

There are three living species of elephants.
African bush elephants are the world's largest land animal.
African elephants have large ears that are shaped like Africa's map. Whereas an Asian elephant has ears that look like the Indian subcontinent.
An elephant's long trunk can hold up to 8 liters of water.
The regular dust and mud baths help keep elephants cool.
Elephants have really thick skin.

How To Draw an Elephant

Before we start our elephant sketch we also want to make sure you have the right tools. Here are the drawing supplies we recommend having before starting including drawing paper, and drawing pencils.

Elephant Head and Elephant’s Trunk

Start by drawing the elephant's head. The head is a half arch on the top of the head and then a slightly wider, slightly shorter arch for the bottom of the head. For the elephant's trunk, draw a curved cone like shape out of the middle of the elephant's face. Then the end is of the trunk is a small kidney bean shape.

Elephant's Body

Our drawing of an elephant is a sitting elephant and so for the elephant body, draw a curved line off the under left side of the elephant head with a rounded line of seated side of the elephant. For the right side, draw a line down and slightly curve at the end right around the same as the left side.

Next, draw a hind leg off the right side of the body. Then draw the front leg right between the two curved lines of the body from the previous step.

Elephant’s Ears

By adding a simple curved lines on the front legs and hind legs it creates the elephant's feet. Both the front feet and back feet. Next is drawing the elephant's ears. We like drawing big ears, but feel free to draw them whatever size you like. Draw each ear off each side of the elephant's head.

Next, add a second line inside the elephant's ears. Then draw the a small tail. Draw a small tuft of hair at the end of the tail like a paint brush.

Next draw small thorn like shapes along the length of the trunk. Add another as a small smile off the base of the trunk.

The last step is to draw the elephant's eyes. Start with small circle and then even smaller circle inside each of the other circles and fill that circle in.

Finally, go over the the shape of the elephant drawing with a dark pencil or marker. Using your colored pencils or crayons color in your elephant and viola, you have a super cute elephant drawing!

Once your kid is done with their drawing of the elephant, use it to make greeting cards, bookmarks, or envelopes. You can also frame them and hang them in their room. Or, simply pin it to their bulletin board.

Happy Drawing!

Other How To Draw Animals You'll Enjoy

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How To Draw an Elephant

Learn the step-by-step art of drawing an elephant, adding an adventurous touch to your artistic journey with our tutorial.

Course How To Draw Tutorials

Cook Time 15

Total Time 15

Author Alli Ward

Equipment

Pencil

Ingredients

Paper
Elephant Drawing Tutorial

Instructions

Start by drawing the elephant's head. The head is a half arch on the top of the head and then a slightly wider, slightly shorter arch for the bottom of the head. For the elephant's trunk, draw a curved cone like shape out of the middle of the elephant's face. Then the end is of the trunk is a small kidney bean shape.
Our drawing of an elephant is a sitting elephant and so for the elephant body, draw a curved line off the under left side of the elephant head with a rounded line of seated side of the elephant. For the right side, draw a line down and slightly curve at the end right around the same as the left side.
Next, draw a hind leg off the right side of the body. Then draw the front leg right between the two curved lines of the body from the previous step.
By adding a simple curved lines on the front legs and hind legs it creates the elephant's feet. Both the front feet and back feet. Next is drawing the elephant's ears. We like drawing big ears, but feel free to draw them whatever size you like. Draw each ear off each side of the elephant's head.
Next, add a second line inside the elephant's ears. Then draw the a small tail. Draw a small tuft of hair at the end of the tail like a paint brush.
Next draw small thorn like shapes along the length of the trunk. Add another as a small smile off the base of the trunk.
The last step is to draw the elephant's eyes. Start with small circle and then even smaller circle inside each of the other circles and fill that circle in.
Finally, go over the the shape of the elephant drawing with a dark pencil or marker. Using your colored pencils or crayons color in your elephant and viola, you have a super cute elephant drawing!