#380: Colour

Colour in a colouring book or printed out colouring sheets from your favourite online kids website.



Make this a family activity: Get down on the floor and share your colouring book or pages with your family.

This activity promotes fine motor skills and colour awareness.

#343: Face Painting

Often you can get your face painted at children's fairs and other such family events. If there isn't someone doing face painting in your area, see if you can find face painting crayons or face paints.

While you can paint your own face with face paints, it is easier to have someone else do it for you.



What would you like? Whiskers? A flower on one cheek? Or maybe turn yourself into a dragon? Be creative and see what happens.


Make this a family activity: Take turns painting each other's faces until everyone is done.

This activity promotes creativity.

#303: Tracing

There are many different things you can trace and many different ways to trace them. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Trace your hands or feet. Place your foot or hand on a piece of paper, then move your pencil along the edge of your hand, drawing it's shape on the paper.

Trace a picture. Place a blank piece of paper over the picture you want to trace, then hold both against a window so light shows through the picture as well as your paper so you can see the lines of the picture you want to trace. Now, go over the picture's lines on your piece of paper. (Keeping your picture and paper to the window.)

Chalk Tracers. Take a dark piece of construction paper and place a plastic tracer toy on it (you can also use things you may find around the house like coins or pieces of cardstock (firm paper used for making cards) cut into different shapes). Using chalk, colour the top of the tracer. Then, gently use a facial tissue to carefully wipe the chalk off the tracer and onto the paper to make streaks in the shape of the tracer. (See picture below.)




Make this a family activity: Trace everyone's hands and see how different they are.

This activity promotes shape awareness and fine motor skills.

#272: Illustrate Your Favourite Story

Do you have a favourite story? Illustrate (draw pictures) to go with the story. It doesn't matter if the story already has pictures, create your own!



Make this a family activity: Get everyone together to illustrate their favourite stories.

This activity promotes visual-language connections as well as creativity.

#252: Draw on a Fungus

A fungus grows on trees in darker, damper environments. Fungi can be great to draw on when they are fresh (the part that faces down is white and soft making it easy to draw on). As they dry out, they turn brown.

This is a fungus I drew on when I was a kid. It was white when I pulled it off the tree, but has now turned brown. This drawing is about 20 years old.

Make this a family activity: See if you can find enough fungi for everyone to draw on their own.

This activity promotes creativity and environmental awareness.

#235: Don't Lift Your Pencil!

Have you ever tried drawing a whole picture without lifting your pencil off the paper?



First, find something you would like to draw. You can start with something simple, like a table. Decide what part of the table you want to start drawing. Put your pencil on the paper, start drawing and keep your pencil touching the paper (and drawing) for the whole picture. You can only lift your pencil off the page when you are finished the whole picture.

It's tricky!
Enjoy!


Make this a family activity: Have everyone in the family sit in a circle (or at a table) with paper and a pencil. Everyone tries to draw the person across from them, keeping their pencil on the paper the whole time.

This activity promotes spatial awareness and visual-spatial planning.

#223: Draw on Birch Bark

Birch bark can be used like paper. Draw or colour on birch bark with pens, pencils, pencil crayons or markers.

When finding birch bark for drawing, be sure to use birch bark that has already shed off a tree, is on a dead tree, or is almost off the tree. If you pull birch bark off a live tree, you could kill it as the bark is its skin. In the picture below, the back is naturally peeling. Simply cut along the spot where it is still attached to the tree and you will have a nice piece of bark.

(This is a note I gave my cousin when we were little.

It says: 1987
Sarah,
Thank you for the note.
I have an acorn that we can give a chipmunk.
Love, Jean.)

Make this a family activity: Write letter or draw pictures to each other.

This activity promotes environment awareness.

#218: Paint

Paint your own picture, paint in a paint book, or do a paint-by-numbers.


Identical-sided paintings: Paint one side of a piece of paper and while the paint is still wet, fold the paper in half and press down. The paint from the one side is now on both sides of the paper.

Drippy Paintings: Put lots of paint on your paper, then tip it up so the paint drips and runs.

Splatter Paint: Make sure your brush has lots of paint on it, then flick your brush at the paper, making splatters. (Make sure you cover your painting area with plastic—paint can end up everywhere!)


Make this a family activity: get the adults painting too.

This activity promotes creativity, fine motor skills, and colour mixing knowledge.

#183: Pastels

Tired of making pictures with markers, crayons or paint? Try pastels. They make bright drawings.



Pastels are available in arts and craft stores.


Make this a family activity: Why not have everyone in the family make a picture?

This activity promotes creativity.

#171: Finger Paint

Who needs paintbrushes? Use your fingers and finger paint!



Make this a family activity: Adults don't need paintbrushes either!

This activity promotes tactile awareness.

#153: Draw a Picture

Draw a picture. Use pencils, markers, pencil crayons, crayons, pens...whatever you want to make your drawing.




Make it a family activity: Everyone draws a picture. Draw each other, the family pet, the house, the tree out front...anything!

This activity promotes fine motor skills and artistic skills.

#148: Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a fancy form of writing that looks very elegant. You will need special calligraphy pens to do calligraphy. A 'how to' book helps too as it will show you how to make the letters using your pens. Pens can be found in craft stores and books can be found in the library, craft store or bookstore.




Be patient, it takes time to get the hang of calligraphy. As well, there are fancier forms (like above and less fancy forms of calligraphy.)

Enjoy!


This activity promotes fine motor skills and literacy.

#93: Blind Contour Drawings

Draw a picture of something without looking at the paper you are drawing on.

Pick something that will stay still, like a chair or a plant and without looking at the paper, draw the object. It helps to look at the line of the chair, plant (or whatever you are drawing) while you are drawing that line.

No peeking!


This activity promotes visualization skills.

#52: Draw Using Your Toes

Looking for a new challenge when you draw? Try holding your pencil between your toes instead of your fingers. See if you can print your name. It's harder than it looks!




You can also try painting.


This activity promotes fine motor skills.

#31: Coin Imprints

You will need paper, a few coins and a crayon or pencil.

Place the coin under the piece of paper and gently rub your crayon or pencil over the paper. It will be bumpy from the coin underneath. Soon, you will find that the shape and texture (the bumps on the coin) will show up on your paper. Cool!

Use different coloured pencils and crayons to make crazy coloured coin imprints.

What else can make an imprint?


This activity promotes exploring textures visually and kinesthetically.