2.1. What are doodles?

Doodles are those spontaneous, instinctive sketches that often spring to life when our minds are wandering or deeply focused. Think of them as brain fingerprints: unique, expressive, and full of personality.

Where do you usually spot doodles?

On notebooks? On napkins at a café? In the margins of textbooks? Or maybe on walls (courtesy of a toddler)?

Think about it. Doodles are everywhere, even when we don’t notice them!

Now, have you ever caught yourself scribbling stars, spirals, or stick figures while on a call or in a meeting?

If yes then, congratulations, you’re a certified doodler!

Doodles don’t have the polish of a professional artist’s work, and that’s okay! They aren’t about perfection, they’re about expression. Remember how toddlers draw on walls or random pieces of paper? Those squiggly lines may not make sense to adults, but they’re pure storytelling for little ones. Our prehistoric ancestors did something similar: drawing on cave walls, long before written language was a thing. Those rough sketches weren’t just art; they were survival guides, stories, and memories.

Doodles aren’t just random marks; they’re a universal way to make sense of the world. In fact, they’ve been helping humans learn, think, and communicate for centuries.

Kaumudi Sahasrabudde explains in her video (CC BY NC) the difference between doodling and sketching and illustrates some simple doodling techniques to get you started on using doodles for learning.

Note the video is in Hindi.However, if you need the English translation of the video, consult the Augmented Transcript in Annexure C2.2.1.B.

Doodling is a useful tool in assimilating and learning new information. Sunny Brown makes a case for using doodling to process complex information in her Ted talk (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0).

The Summary in Annexure C2.2.1.A. of this handbook.

Various studies (Gao et al., 2020) indicate that adding visuals support learning. However, studies also show that the benefits are even greater when learners create their own visuals because making a drawing, diagram, or map requires them to think deeply, organize ideas, and connect information. Active engagement in the learning process in key to better learning.

Doodling is a simple, quick and flexible way to make these visuals. They can be combined with tools like mind maps or graphic organizers to capture ideas and show relationships.

In this handbook, we focus on helping you as educators create doodles to support your teaching. More importantly, we also provide guidelines to help you get your learners to doodle themselves, since their active participation brings stronger learning outcomes.