Things to Make - Our Family Art Game

As frequent readers of this blog know - I LOVE the Artful Parent because of her simple and open ended projects. She rarely recommends tough to find materials, instead she often relies on kitchen staples or art cabinet basics, using everything in new and different ways. Often, after I read her blog, I say to myself, "well, why didn't I think of that?", but I never DO think of that, hence why I need her.

Anyways, she now has a book out - The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family's Life with Art and Creativity--Includes over 60 Art Projects for Children Ages 1 to 8 and even though I LOVE her blog I hesitated over whether or not to purchase a copy. Part of me wondered "what more can the Artful Parent possibly teach our family?" Luckily, I overcame my indecision and bought the book. And I must say, I'm loving it. I have no idea how many of the crafts she's already blogged, but there is something wonderful about reading a book over perusing the internet. And I really like how the Artful Parent has categorized the projects - art for playdates and parties, quiet activities, action art, first forays, quick and easy projects, etc. A great resource, whatever your mood.

We have only begun to dive into all of the book's suggested activities and crafts (i.e. summer vacation hasn't started yet), but we've already come up with a favorite new family activity (based on artful activity 49, musical chairs art). In order to "play" I fill the table with markers, crayons, oil pastels and a timer (borrowed from a board game). We all take a piece of white paper and draw until the timer runs out. And then we pass our drawings to the person on our right. And on and on. Until your original drawing returns to you. Easy, right? But so fun to play with your kids. I love that it forces me to think out of the box, to create or add to drawings that are so different than my own. The other day Dan drew a landscape and by the end of the game he had a plethora of underground "imaginary" animals burrowing under his hill. Or F's friend, L, made my giant circle (I tend to doodle shapes when I draw) into an earth, my other doodled shapes became random objects in an unknown galaxy.

The book recommends several variations on this theme - simon says drawing, musical chairs painting (create to music, than switch), composite people drawings, scribbling for a minute and then trying to find shapes in other people's random lines, etc. Eventually, I hope to try them all. But for now, we're having a ton of fun completing each other's artwork. (Well, except for T, who after making his first drawing always proclaims it "too good to share" and then spends the rest of the game creating on his own terms, which works as well).

So thank you, Artful Parent! Thank you! I cannot wait to try more of your book's wonderful ideas.









Unfortunately, the problem with participating in a time limited art game is taking pictures becomes tricky. We've played a few times, but I only photographed the last session, when the kids wanted to use Kaleidographs, which are wonderful, but produce somewhat abstract works of art.