Zentangle Benefits for Kids: Stress-relief, Motor Skill Development, and Learning Boosts
Zentangle celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The brainchild of Rick and Maria Roberts, Zentangle utilizes simple pen strokes and repeated patterns to create complex-looking designs called tangles. While they may look difficult, anyone can draw one – even people who believe they can’t draw. When Rick and Maria started to teach others, they often said, “If you can sign your name, you can create Zentangle art.” Over the past two decades, researchers took notice of the benefits of the art form on adults. As the art form grew more popular, it found its ways into schools and afterschool programs. Unsurprisingly, parents, teachers, and researchers discovered that Zentangle benefits kids as much as adults, but in some surprising ways. This blog post references several studies.
Traditional Zentangle uses an art pen, such as a Micron pen and a 3.5 inch square tile. By adding one or more patterns to the cards, artists, also called tanglers, create beautiful designs. While the results look complicated, each pattern uses simple pen strokes to create it, represented by the nonsense word “icso” – a dot, a line, a curve, an s shape, and an orb. Once the tangler learns the steps to creating the pattern using these simple pen strokes, they fill spaces called strings that they draw in pencil on their cards. After the tangler completes their pattern(s), they use their pencil and a blending tool called a tortillon to complete their design with a little shading for depth and shadow. This final step also helps blend the string lines into the design. Alternatively, artists add color using a variety of media – colored pencils, pastels, watercolor, markers – and turn their art into Zentangle-inspired Art (ZIA). The traditional small card means a tangler can typically create a piece of art in about an hour, but Zentangle scales to larger surfaces easily.
Zentangle Benefits Kids: Mental Health
Get Your Zen On
The nature of Zentangle promotes relaxation and focus. The simplicity of the pen strokes allows the artist to slip into “flow state”. Flow, also known as being “in the zone”, is when you become so focused on the task at hand that you lose track of time and don’t think about anything else. As an artist builds their tangle one pen stroke at a time, it’s easy to tune everything else out.
Zentangle has few rules which benefits kids who typically want to take an idea and run with it. When I teach Zentangle to kids, I’ve watched the most rambunctious groups settle in and focus on their art. The spell breaks when one of them eagerly shows me and the group the cool twist they put on their design. With kids, not only does Zentangle bring them into the flow state like it does adults, it promotes curiosity and confidence in their artistic voices. In my own classes, I’ve watched many a shy kid come out of their shell as they share their latest spin on a tangle.
Doodling with Intention
Many people new to Zentangle believe that it’s just doodling. While I agree that doodlers tend to click with Zentangle quickly, it moves doodling to another level. You might think of Zentangle as doodling with intention. When I doodle, I do it out of boredom or sometimes as a way to help me concentrate on something else. In college, my notebooks were full of scribbles and doodles in the margins because it made it easier for me to take in the lecture (and sometimes I really was just bored and trying to pass the time until the class ended!) Zentangle patterns often share common ideas with the lowly doodle – simple elements that get repeated over and over. Unlike doodles, Zentangle asks us to focus on the tangle. Fill the space intentionally. For me, I let my piece “speak” to me – does it need more of a pattern? Does it want me to switch to a different pattern? Should I create a little variation on the pattern I’m using?
No Mistakes
Along with focus, intention is another Zentangle benefit for kids. It teaches them to slow down and think it through. Using a pen makes the design immediately permanent. While we teach that there are no mistakes in Zentangle, we also ask what the artist can do if something doesn’t go as expected. Intention also helps adjust the course and work with what’s on the card and not give up. Everyone can use a safe place to practice resilience and Zentangle offers a creative way to do so.
As a perfectionist, I appreciate that Zentangle asks us to quiet that inner critic. That little voice lives in the back of everyone’s head. Kids are no different. In fact, that inner critic can be pretty loud in a tween or teen’s brain. When we tangle, we start and end the process with appreciation. We appreciate taking a little time for ourselves and then, upon completion, appreciate what we created. In a group setting everyone shares their designs by placing them in one location to create a mosaic. Appreciation, focus, and intention helps quiet the inner critic so we can explore and experiment. With regular Zentangle practice, our abilities to quiet the inner critic spill into other areas of our lives. For kids, learning to control their inner critic gives them confidence and courage socially, academically, and creatively.
Express Yourself!
Zentangle benefits kids through self-expression. Art and music naturally create an outlet for expression, but not every kid has the means to participate in these activities in a traditional sense. Zentangle provides a simple, affordable way for adults and children to create art. It doesn’t require expensive materials, years of classes, or even the ability to draw a straight line! Studies show that neurodiverse children who might otherwise have difficulty expressing their feelings find new ways to communicate through art and Zentangle.
Zentangle Benefits Kids: Academics
Patterns Everywhere
When I started my own Zentangle journey years ago, I was happy drawing the patterns created by Zentangle HQ and other Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZTs). The more I experimented with it, though, the more I recognized the naturally occurring patterns around me. It became a fun challenge to see if I could break one of those patterns down into the simple pen strokes that comprise a Zentangle pattern. Kids benefit from this level of pattern recognition too in several ways.
The most obvious way Zentangle benefits kids in this area is just seeing the patterns – in nature, in math, in man-made structures, etc. Zentangle teaches us that we break complicated patterns into smaller component pieces. This idea carries into other art forms. How can they draw a face or their favorite animal? Break it down into simple shapes and build from there. Nature brims with patterns – leaf arrangements, zebra stripes, bee hives, the human circulatory system, etc. Now move to math or music – patterns of numbers, tones in a melody, fractals, rhythms, etc. By starting with a simple Zentangle pattern, children discover that just about everything in the world can be broken down into smaller parts.
Get Coordinated
The intentional pattern work helps develop motor coordination. One school that was studied worked on developing penmanship through Zentangle art instead of traditional textbooks and worksheets. As I teach Zentangle, I regularly remind my students to maintain a relaxed grip on their pens. Tensing up not only can give a cramp, it makes it more difficult to create an effortless line. Every so often, I ask my students to put their pens down, sit up straight, and roll their shoulders – release any built up tension. These strategies work equally well when learning to write. Using pen grips can help children to learn to hold their pens and pencils correctly while tangling or writing. While this blog post focuses on kids, I would be remiss if I didn’t add that this art form also helps elderly adults maintain their coordination and dexterity as well.
Get Started!
Zentangle benefits kids in a variety of ways. If your child likes working on their own, check out my self-paced Zentangle Art classes for ages 12 – 18. I am also slowly build a library of “Draw With Me” videos which are free how-to videos with designs for kids and adults. I am also available for live group classes online for kids and families. Book a discovery call to discuss interests and the style of class you’re interested in.
Studies Referenced for this Article
Introducing Zentangle in the Early Years
Effects of Zentangle art workplace health promotion activities on rural healthcare workers
The Effects of Zentangle® on Affective Well-Being Among Adults: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial