Hey, it's me, Mr. J, and welcome to today's drawing challenge. Do you have a couple minutes? Because today's challenge is draw silly food. So, grab something to draw on, and something to draw with, and let's do this.

(Describer) Mr. J, a white man with glasses and spiky gray hair, sits at a table and holds up a small pad of paper and a marker. The title appears beside a sketch of Mr. J: "Drawing with Mr. J."

[playful music]

[pen scribbling]

There are so many foods we can draw-- vegetables, breads, fruits, my favorite, french fries. And then there's how to make it silly. We can add funny faces, or put tiny pants on muffins, or break dancing broccoli. I wonder what you're gonna draw. How about cheese? I think stinky cheese can be really silly. Even better-- stinky, loud cheese. Yeah, that could be hilarious. Before I get ahead of myself, I need to start with some simple shapes for my cheese. All right, I'm gonna draw like a rectangle, but I'm gonna cut little bumps out of it for the holes in the cheese. So, I'm gonna draw a line down, and boomp. Down and boomp. Over and boomp. Over, up, boomp. Do you see how I'm putting the holes in the cheese? All right, over, boomp, over. Now, to make it look 3D, I'm gonna do a diagonal line. Oh, and a hole in the cheese, boomp. And a diagonal line and attach. Yeah, that's it. Cheese, all right. All right, I'm gonna give it legs, because of course, the cheese needs have legs.

(Describer) He draws legs and feet.

And then little arms with hands. This is a super silly cheese. Oh, and it's stinky, right? So, I'm gonna add these little wiggly lines to make it look like stinky cheese,

(Describer) Lines rise from the top.

and it's gonna be a silly, loud cheese. So, here's my trick. I'm gonna do a sideways letter V with a line in between, and it looks like its eyes are closed. And then I'm gonna make a big open mouth and we can see its tongue. Aah! Yeah, a silly, stinky cheese.

(Describer) The Mr. J sketch appears. The drawing animates.

[pen scribbling]

So, let's check it. When we're feeling silly, how does it feel? Does your whole body feel squirmy, like you're being tickled? Your eyes might close and your mouth opened wide with a smile. Or maybe you stick out your tongue and you wiggle back and forth. Being silly can be a lot of fun.

(Describer) The stinky scent lines wiggle. Now, Mr. J appears.

Believe it or not. I love to laugh and be silly with my friends. One time my friend and I were at a workshop with a lot of other teachers. We started laughing about something one of us said and we couldn't stop laughing. I mean, no matter what we tried, we kept laughing. It felt so good to laugh that hard. But we were making so much noise that all the teachers stopped looking at the person talking and started staring at us. It didn't feel so great then. And the person who was trying to talk, well, they didn't feel so great either. Later my friend and I apologized to them, and we meant it. We were having such a good time as friends, and that's okay. But there's also a time when we need to know that there's important work to be done, or listening to do. A stinky cheese doesn't need to apologize for being stinky, but he should think about when it's time to listen and when it's time to be loud and goofy. What might we be missing, if we're being super silly all the time? And what about all those other teachers in the room? Were they able to hear the important learning? I wonder if you've ever been told to stop being so silly and to get more focused. Well, use your drawing to talk with a parent or a trusted adult about a time you were told to calm down and focus, or to be a better listener. Being a good listener doesn't mean we can't have fun or that we can't have those silly, goofy moments. But we should talk about when it's time to stop and listen and a silly food item is a great place to start. Did you draw goofy grapes, or laughing lemons, or maybe a ridiculous radish? I can only imagine how silly your food is. Well, here's my silly, stinky cheese.

(Describer) Mr. J smiles and holds up his silly, stinky cheese drawing.

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Thanks for joining me today as we drew silly food. I look forward to seeing you next time for another drawing challenge.

(Describer) Mr. J picks up the marker and draws. Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education. WOSU Public Media

[playful music]

Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.