Ranging from some of the smallest children to the oldest of adults, and everyone in between, just about anyone can scribble!
And scribbling can be a delightful relief from stress, whether used as an emotional outlet or a way to create art.
International Scribble Day is here to show appreciation for and celebrate the simplicity of the activity of scribbling. All it takes is just a piece of paper along with a writing utensil, and it’s perfectly simple to enjoy the day!
International Scribble Day Timeline
Luquet Describes Children’s “Scribbling Stage”
French psychologist Georges-Henri Luquet publishes work identifying a universal “scribbling stage” as the first phase of children’s drawing development, treating early scribbles as meaningful expression rather than random marks.
Viktor Lowenfeld’s Stages of Artistic Development
Art educator Viktor Lowenfeld’s book “Creative and Mental Growth” popularizes a developmental sequence in children’s art, beginning with the “scribble stage,” and argues that free scribbling is vital for creativity and emotional growth.
Rhoda Kellogg Maps Children’s Scribble Patterns
Nursery school educator Rhoda Kellogg publishes “Analyzing Children’s Art,” based on thousands of drawings, documenting common “scribble” forms and showing that young children’s seemingly chaotic marks follow recognizable, purposeful patterns.
André Masson Experiments with Automatic Drawing
In Paris, Surrealist artist André Masson begins his automatic drawings, using rapid, unplanned lines that resemble scribbling to bypass conscious control and tap the unconscious, influencing later views of spontaneous mark-making as serious art.
Paul Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook Highlights Line Play
Paul Klee’s influential “Pedagogical Sketchbook,” based on his Bauhaus teaching, explores the expressive possibilities of simple lines and playful, childlike marks, helping legitimize loose, scribble-like drawing in modern art education.
Art Therapy Embraces Free Scribbling
Pioneers of art therapy begin using free scribbling with clients as a nonverbal way to explore feelings, with early practitioners reporting that unstructured marks can reduce anxiety and reveal emotional themes in a safe, creative format.
Jackie Andrade Demonstrates the “Doodling Effect”
Psychologist Jackie Andrade publishes a study in Applied Cognitive Psychology showing that people who doodle during a boring listening task recall significantly more information, suggesting that simple scribbling can aid attention and memory.
How to Celebrate International Scribble Day
Get creative and inspired to celebrate International Scribble Day with some of these delightful and cool ideas:
Read I’m NOT Just a Scribble
Get inspired for the day by picking up a copy of I’m NOT Just a Scribble, by Diane Alber, at a local library, bookstore, or the author’s website.
Parents, teachers and others who work with kids can read the book to the kids in their lives and encourage them to get inspired to create their own works of art with scribbles.
One of the fun types of scribble art created in the book includes making a scribble, adding eyes and a mouth, drawing on arms and legs, and then making a delightful character out of it. It’s tons of fun!
Create Some Scribble Art
A perfect way to get involved with International Scribble Day might be to create some scribble art with participation that ranges from simple to complex.
Perhaps it’s just a pencil and a plain piece of printer paper. Or maybe it’s something more interesting like some scribbles of watercolor paint on a canvas.
Or, for those who really want to get involved, perhaps it would be fun to create a scribble design that could be put on transfer paper and worn on a t-shirt. The options for art that can be created for International Scribble Day are almost endless!
History of International Scribble Day
Founded by Diane Alber, International Scribble Day got its start in 2019. The day began as a nod to the children’s book written by Alber called “I’m NOT Just a Scribble.
The theme of this cute book, which was published in 2017, is that art can come in any form and anyone can be encouraged to be an artist. Other themes of the book include ideas about kindness and acceptance, as well as inspiring creativity.
With a desire to encourage people young and old to accept others as they are, the hope of this day is also that people will be inspired to be creative. Even people who don’t think they are very ‘artistic’ can have something creative to offer to the world – even if it’s just a scribble!
International Scribble Day is here to raise awareness for the important themes of kindness, acceptance and unique forms of creativity. So get on board with celebrating this important day!
Facts About International Scribble Day
Scribbling Is Now Seen as Intentional Communication in Early Childhood
Recent developmental research has challenged the old idea that young children’s scribbles are random marks.
A 2015 study that closely analyzed the “scribbling phase” found that toddlers and preschoolers use different types of lines, directions, and pressures to represent actions, emotions, and relationships, turning scribbling into a kind of graphic monologue that parallels early speech.
Early Scribbles Help Build the Foundations for Writing and Drawing
Psychologists who study children’s drawings note that scribbling is not a disposable stage, but the base on which later drawing and handwriting skills are built.
Through repeated scribbles, children experiment with motor control, spatial organization, and symbolic use of marks, which gradually evolves into recognizable figures and written symbols during the preschool and early school years.
Surrealist Artists Turned Automatic Scribbling into a Serious Technique
In the early 20th century, Surrealist artists and writers adopted “automatic drawing,” which often began as loose, unplanned scribbles made without conscious control.
Artists such as André Masson used this approach to bypass rational thought and tap into the unconscious mind, treating rapid, freehand marks as a legitimate path to finished artworks rather than as childish or throwaway doodles.
Doodling’s Effect on Memory Is Actively Debated in Psychology
A small but influential 2009 study in Applied Cognitive Psychology reported that people who doodled during a tedious phone message remembered about 29 percent more details than those who did not doodle, suggesting that simple scribbling might support attention.
However, a 2024 set of experiments published in Psychological Research found that doodling did not reliably improve attention, reduce boredom, or boost recall compared with other note-taking conditions, highlighting how unsettled the science still is.
Handwritten Marks on Paper Activate the Brain Differently Than Screens
Neuroscientists at the University of Tokyo compared taking notes on paper notebooks, tablets, and smartphones, and found that writing by hand on paper produced more complex and stronger brain activity in regions involved in memory and language.
The researchers suggested that the tactile feedback, spatial layout, and variable strokes of pen-on-paper marking create richer “context” for the brain than uniform digital taps or swipes.
Nonverbal Scribbling Can Help People Process Difficult Emotions
Art therapists often encourage clients of all ages to begin sessions with free-form scribbling, because it allows expression without the pressure of making something “pretty” or realistic.
Reviews of art therapy practice report that unstructured drawing and mark-making can reduce physiological signs of stress and give people a way to externalize anxiety, anger, or grief when they struggle to put those feelings into words.
Children Around the World Pass Through Similar Scribbling Stages
Cross-cultural studies of children’s early drawings show that youngsters in very different societies, including industrialized and non-industrialized cultures, tend to move through comparable stages: uncontrolled scribbling, then controlled scribbling, then simple symbolic figures.
While what they eventually choose to draw is influenced by local culture, the early urge to fill surfaces with free marks appears to be a near-universal part of human development.
