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Thanks Ametrine, I have spent the last few weeks watching this explode and trying to stand back and provide the materials etc but we have reached a point that she is craving some kind of instruction. Good to hear you enjoyed it! The book we have doesn't cover the furry animals sadly (it was a hand me down) We tried a dinosaur out of it but that resulted in much anguish....

Have you tried any of the Ed Emberly books? Not sure that they're widely available in Aus & NZ. I picked up 3 for my arty then 4 year old last year for Christmas from The Book Depository and she loved them. Gave her the confidence and basics to really flourish.

I was a bit worried that they might limit her style but she's really developed her own very distinctive style over the past year. And my other two loved them as well.

We've enjoyed Mark Kistler's "Draw Squad".

Depending on reading level/whether or not you have the time to decode/relay the content of the text to your child this is a classic:-

how to draw what you see

It gets into the 'shapes' and then drawing these shapes out into 3-d 'prisms' and then how to 'see' objects as composites of these 3-d 'prisms' ( my quotes).

You should read Drawing on the right side of the brain.
Is a book definitely aimed at adults, but in my opinion gives a great perspective on drawing for realism, without constructionism. Having a strong foundation in really seeing is especially important because what she learns i school will almost definitely be formulaic like a tree is a stick with a ball, brown stick green ball. Other ideas for devloping seeing are hang a sheet up and strongly light an object from behind and drawing it, or making photographs black and white (no grayscale) and copying, or rubbings from leaves Or other textures and copying. Verbal skills like comparing drawings with photographs can also help. also if she is getting worried about accuracy, a trip to a museum to see how different artists approach representation differently might be worthwile.Drawing books that are like this how you draw a.... kind of squash creativity, in my opinion. Also, fingerpaint or something messy and tactile like pastels or charcoal are great and you can focus on other ways to add details

Absolutely! My mom is a drawing teacher and she has always had this book lying around. (I have to admit that I've never read it though.) I get so frustrated when kids are taught to draw by making outlines of things.