Last Updated on February 12, 2026 by Dee
There’s something wonderfully freeing about picking up a pen and doodling without a plan. No sketchbook pressure, no “it has to look perfect” spiral — just simple marks on paper that somehow turn into flowers and coffee cups and little stars.
I spent years as an art teacher watching students freeze up the moment they were told to “draw something.” But hand them a pen and say “just doodle” and suddenly the page fills up. Doodle ideas simple enough for anyone are the secret entry point to a creative habit that actually sticks.
This post is packed with 75+ simple doodle ideas sorted by category — basic shapes, nature, food, weather, mini journal doodles, borders, and seasonal themes. Whether you’re filling a bullet journal, decorating a planner, or just killing time with a pen, you’ll find something here you can draw right now.
I’ve put together TWO free printable packs for you today — grab your free Simple Doodle Starter Sheets right after the table of contents below, and keep scrolling for a set of Doodle Prompt Cards with 30 quick drawing challenges further down the page!
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Table of Contents
Free Simple Doodle Starter Sheets
Before we get into the full list, here’s something to make this easier — my free Simple Doodle Starter Sheets pack. It includes practice templates for basic shapes, nature doodles, cute food doodles, and a mini doodle reference library you can keep next to your journal. Print them out, trace over the examples, then try them freehand. Seven pages of doodle goodness, totally free.
Basic Shape Doodles — Where Every Beginner Should Start
Quick Answer: The easiest way to start doodling is to turn basic shapes — circles, squares, and triangles — into recognizable objects. A circle becomes a sun, a square becomes a house, a triangle becomes a tree.
Every complex drawing starts as a simple shape. That fancy rose tutorial you saw online? It started as a circle. The cute little town scene? Rectangles and triangles. Once you see doodles as dressed-up shapes, the whole thing feels way less intimidating.
Here are simple shape doodles to try right now:
- Circle doodles: sun, smiley face, flower, clock, eyeball, basketball, donut, planet
- Square doodles: house, gift box, window, TV, book, photo frame, dice, robot face
- Triangle doodles: tree, mountain, party hat, pizza slice, tent, arrow, diamond (two triangles), ice cream cone
- Oval doodles: egg, leaf, mirror, balloon, face shape, avocado
The trick is to draw the basic shape first, then add details. A circle with lines radiating outward becomes a sun. Add a stem and two leaves to an oval and you’ve got a leaf. That’s really all there is to it. If you want more ideas like these, check out my post on cute easy doodles for even more beginner-friendly shapes.
Simple Nature Doodles
Quick Answer: Simple nature doodles include flowers, leaves, clouds, trees, mountains, and stars. They’re among the easiest doodles to draw because nature is full of organic shapes that look charming even when they’re imperfect.
Nature doodles are my go-to when I’m on the phone or waiting for something. They flow naturally and honestly look better a little wonky. A perfectly symmetrical flower feels stiff — a slightly lopsided one feels alive.
Flowers: Start with five petals around a centre dot — that’s a daisy. Tulips are basically a “U” shape with two bumps on top. Sunflowers are a circle with longer petals and a crosshatch centre. If you want to take your flower doodles further, I’ve got a whole post on easy flower drawing ideas.
Leaves and trees: Simple leaf shapes — pointed ovals with a centre line and veins branching off. For trees, draw a trunk (two parallel lines) and a cloud-shaped top. Pine trees are just stacked triangles getting smaller toward the top.
Sky elements: Puffy clouds (bumpy lines connecting in a blob), a crescent moon, scattered stars (five-pointed or just asterisks), and a simple sun with straight or wavy rays.
Try filling an entire page with just nature doodles — no planning, just fill the space. It’s meditative and the result always looks gorgeous. For more nature-inspired drawing ideas, take a look at my doodle art flowers collection.
Easy Food Doodles
Quick Answer: Food doodles are some of the most fun simple doodles to draw. Start with basics like a coffee cup, cupcake, pizza slice, or ice cream cone — they use simple shapes and always look cute.
Something about food doodles just makes people smile. Maybe it’s because they’re inherently cozy and familiar — everyone knows what a cup of coffee looks like, so even a wobbly version reads perfectly.
Here are some of the easiest food doodles to start with:
- Drinks: coffee cup with steam, tea cup on saucer, smoothie with straw, juice box, milk carton
- Sweets: cupcake with cherry, donut with sprinkles, ice cream cone, lollipop, slice of cake, cookie
- Savoury: pizza slice, hamburger, taco, hot dog, sushi roll, pretzel
- Fruit: apple, banana, strawberry, watermelon slice, cherries, pineapple
The coffee cup is probably my favourite beginner doodle because it’s just a rectangle with a handle and some steam squiggles on top. Add a heart or a smiley face to the mug and it’s instantly cute. If you love drawing cute things, you’ll also enjoy my guide to cute little doodles for more kawaii-style inspiration.
Weather and Space Doodles
Weather and space doodles work brilliantly as page fillers. They’re small, recognizable, and surprisingly satisfying to draw — especially when you add a little personality to them.
Weather doodles: rain cloud (cloud shape with vertical lines underneath), sunshine (circle with rays), rainbow (stacked arcs), lightning bolt (zigzag line), snowflake (intersecting lines with small branches), tornado (spiral getting wider at the bottom), umbrella with rain.
Space doodles: crescent moon, full moon with craters (just a circle with smaller circles inside), stars (five-pointed or starburst), planet with rings (Saturn is basically a circle with an oval ring), rocket ship, shooting star (star with trailing lines), constellation dots connected with lines.
One of my favourite things to do is give weather doodles faces. A grumpy rain cloud with angry eyebrows? A sleepy crescent moon? A cheerful sun wearing sunglasses? These tiny details turn basic doodles into characters and they take about two extra seconds.
Mini Doodles for Journals and Planners
Quick Answer: Mini doodles are tiny decorative drawings used to enhance journal pages, planners, and note margins. Common mini doodles include hearts, arrows, banners, dividers, check marks, and small icons.
This is where doodling becomes genuinely useful. Mini doodles transform a plain journal page into something you actually want to look at. They don’t have to be elaborate — the whole point is that they’re quick and small.
Here’s a mini doodle library to build from:
- Hearts: basic heart, double heart, arrow-through heart, heart with wings, dotted heart outline
- Arrows: straight arrow, curved arrow, double arrow, wavy arrow, fancy decorative arrow
- Banners: simple ribbon banner, scroll banner, flag banner, pointed banner, folded banner
- Dividers: dotted line with diamond, leaf vine, arrow line, wavy line, heart chain
- Icons: tiny envelope, music note, light bulb, pencil, book, clock, camera, key, lock
- Symbols: asterisk, ampersand, exclamation mark in a bubble, question mark, checkmark, X mark
I keep a “mini doodle reference page” at the front of my journal — whenever I learn a new one I like, I add it there. It’s like having a personal sticker sheet that never runs out. For more journal decoration ideas, browse my collection of aesthetic simple doodles and my big list of 50 journal doodle ideas.
Doodle Borders and Frames
Doodle borders are one of the easiest ways to make a page look polished. They frame your content, add visual interest, and they’re surprisingly simple once you get the repeating pattern down.
Simple border patterns:
- Vine border: a wavy line with small leaves sprouting off alternating sides
- Dot border: evenly spaced dots in a line (so satisfying)
- Zigzag border: connected V shapes in a row
- Loop border: continuous loops like cursive “e” letters in a row
- Heart chain: small hearts connected tip-to-tip
- Star border: tiny stars with connecting dots
- Wave border: gentle up-and-down curves
Frame ideas: cloud frame (bumpy outline around text), banner frame (rectangular with pointed ends), wreath frame (circular vine with leaves and flowers), simple box with rounded corners and a small doodle in one corner.
The vine border is probably the most versatile — it works around the edge of a full page, along the side of a journal entry, or as a divider between sections. Practice it once and you’ll use it everywhere. For more decorative ideas, my post on doodle art designs has loads of pattern inspiration.
Seasonal Doodle Ideas
Seasonal doodles are perfect for monthly journal spreads, holiday cards, or just matching your doodle practice to whatever’s happening outside your window.
Spring: tulips, daisies, butterflies, rain boots, umbrellas, baby birds, eggs in a nest, watering can, bumblebee, rainbow
Summer: sunflower, palm tree, sunglasses, ice cream, watermelon slice, beach ball, flip flops, sun hat, seashell, surfboard
Autumn: maple leaf, acorn, pumpkin, apple, mushroom, cozy mug, scarf, sweater, pie, candle
Winter: snowflake, mittens, hot chocolate with marshmallows, pine tree, ornament, gingerbread man, snow globe, fireplace, icicles, woolly hat
I like to do a seasonal doodle spread at the start of each month in my journal. It sets the mood for the whole month and doubles as drawing practice. You’d be surprised how quickly you build a whole seasonal vocabulary of doodles.
Doodling Tips for Complete Beginners
Quick Answer: The best tip for beginner doodlers is to start with basic shapes, draw slowly, and accept imperfection. Use a pen (not pencil) so you can’t erase — this builds confidence faster than you’d think.
If you’ve never doodled before — or if you have but you feel like everything you draw looks “wrong” — here’s what I tell every student:
- Use a pen, not a pencil. This sounds terrifying, but it removes the temptation to erase and redo. Wobbly lines are part of the charm. Seriously. A Sakura Pigma Micron pen in 05 size is perfect for this — smooth ink flow, consistent line, and it doesn’t bleed through most papers.
- Start small. Fill a sticky note, not an A4 page. Small spaces feel less overwhelming and fill up faster.
- Copy first, create later. There’s no shame in looking at reference images. That’s literally how artists have learned for centuries.
- Draw slowly. Speed comes with practice. Slow lines are more controlled and end up looking better.
- Fill the page. Don’t leave a bunch of white space with one lonely doodle in the corner. Scatter your doodles, overlap them, fill the gaps with dots and stars.
- Doodle daily. Even five minutes counts. Consistency beats marathon sessions every single time.
The single biggest mindset shift? Doodling is not drawing. You’re not creating a masterpiece — you’re making marks for the pure fun of it. Once you separate “doodling” from “art” in your brain, the pressure melts away. For more creative starting points, check out my list of sketch ideas for beginners and my 100 sketchbook prompts.
Best Supplies for Doodling
You genuinely don’t need much. A pen and paper is all it takes. But if you want to treat yourself (and honestly, good supplies make doodling more enjoyable), here’s what I recommend.
For pens, the Sakura Pigma Micron set is the gold standard for doodling — archival ink, multiple tip sizes, and they don’t smear. I use the 05 for general doodling and the 01 for tiny details. The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens are another favourite — they come in gorgeous colours if you want to add some life to your doodles.
For paper, any smooth-ish notebook works. I love my Leuchtturm1917 dot grid notebook — the dots help with spacing without being as rigid as graph paper, and the pages are thick enough that pen doesn’t bleed through.
Here are all my recommended doodling supplies in one place:
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase. I only recommend products I genuinely love and use myself!
Free Doodle Prompt Cards
If you sometimes sit down to doodle and draw a complete blank on what to draw (ironic, right?), these prompt cards fix that problem. My Doodle Prompt Cards pack has 30 quick drawing challenges — each card gives you a simple subject with a tiny example, so you never have to stare at a blank page again. Print them, cut them out, and pull one whenever you need a five-minute creative break.
Looking for even more printable resources? Check out my Payhip shop for premium drawing templates and creative guides!
Doodle Ideas FAQ
What are the easiest things to doodle?
The easiest things to doodle are basic shapes turned into objects — circles into suns and flowers, squares into houses and books, triangles into trees and mountains. Stars, hearts, arrows, and clouds are also extremely beginner-friendly because they’re forgiving of imperfect lines.
How do I start doodling if I can’t draw?
Doodling doesn’t require drawing skill — that’s the whole point. Start by copying simple shapes from reference images (like the ones in this post). Use a pen instead of a pencil so you can’t get stuck in an erase-and-redo loop. Begin with sticky notes or small spaces so filling the page feels achievable. Five minutes of daily doodling builds more skill than you’d expect.
What pens are best for doodling?
Fine liner pens like Sakura Pigma Microns (sizes 01-05) are the most popular for doodling. They produce consistent, smooth lines that don’t bleed or smear. Staedtler Triplus Fineliners are great if you want colour options. For a budget option, any ballpoint pen works — doodling is about practice, not expensive supplies.
Can doodling help with anxiety?
Yes — research supports that repetitive, low-pressure creative activities like doodling can reduce cortisol levels and help calm an anxious mind. The rhythmic nature of drawing patterns, shapes, and small illustrations acts like a form of mindfulness. Many therapists recommend doodling as a self-regulation tool.
How long should I doodle each day?
Even five minutes of daily doodling makes a noticeable difference in your confidence and skill. If you enjoy it and have more time, 10-15 minutes is a lovely creative break. The key is consistency rather than duration — short daily sessions beat occasional hour-long marathons.
Final Thoughts
The beautiful thing about doodling is that there really is no wrong way to do it. Every squiggle, every lopsided flower, every slightly wonky coffee cup — they all count. The more you doodle, the more natural it feels, and before you know it you’ve got a whole visual vocabulary of little drawings you can pull from anytime.
Pick three ideas from this list and draw them today. Not tomorrow, not “when I get the right notebook.” Right now, on whatever paper is nearest. That’s how a doodle habit starts — not with perfection, but with a pen hitting paper.
Want to see these techniques in action? Head over to my YouTube channel where I share easy drawing tutorials every week. Hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!
Don’t forget to grab both your free printables — the Simple Doodle Starter Sheets and the Doodle Prompt Cards — using the download sections above. Happy doodling!
Find me on Pinterest for daily doodle inspiration, and subscribe to Artsydee on YouTube for video tutorials!
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