Activities List

In this exercise, you'll focus entirely on painting what you're feeling.

Using color, this activity will have you thinking critically about your emotions.

Looking for a creative way to relax?  Have trouble sitting still to meditate?  Meditative painting might be just the thing you're looking for.  No painting skill or experience necessary - only a desire to relax and become more creative.

Journals don't have to just be based around words. You can make an art journal as well, that lets you visually express your emotions.

. Puppets aren't just for kids. Make your own and have them act out scenes that make you upset.

. Line is one of the simplest and most basic aspects of art, but it can also contain a lot of emotion. Use simple line art to demonstrate visually how you're feeling.

. Are you still angry or upset with someone in your life? Create a postcard that expresses this, though you don't have to ever send it.

. For this activity, you make a clay representation of each family member-- mother, father, siblings, and any other close or influential family members to explore emotional dynamics and roles within your family.

. The mountain can represent a time where you were happy, the valley, when you were sad. Add elements that reflect specific events as well.

Heal your shadow, amplify your intuition, and access inspiration with three simpple intuitive creativity prompts.

Draw your feelings in a heart formation.

. Letting your creativity flow in response to music is a great way to let out feelings and just relax.

. With this activity, you'll turn a simple scribble into something beautiful, using line, color and your creativity.

. Finger painting isn't just fun for kids– adults can enjoy it as well. Get your hands messy and really have fun spreading the paint around.

. Whether you use the traditional sand or draw one on your own, this meditative symbol can easily help you to loosen up.

. Not being able to see what you are drawing intensifies fluidity, intuition, touch and sensitivity.

. Getting your body involved and moving around can help release emotion as you're drawing.

. Colors often come with a lot of emotions attached. Choose several paint chips to work with and collage, paint and glue until you've created a colorful masterpiece.

. Don't allow yourself to judge your work. If you think your paintings are too tight and controlled, this collection of tips and techniques to try should help you work in a looser style.

. Create a drawing or a painting using only colors that you find calming.

. Like a Zen garden, this activity will have you drawing shapes and scenes in the sand, which can be immensely relaxing and a great way to clear your mind.

. These fun little drawings are a great tool for letting go and helping reduce stress.

. Sometimes, the simple act of coloring can be a great way to relax. Find a coloring book or use this mandala for coloring.

. Working en plein air can be a fun way to relax and get in touch with nature while you're working on art.

. Think about what constitutes a perfect day to you and collage it. What about this collage can you make happen today?

. No one else has to like them but you. Print and frame them to have constant reminders of the beautiful things in life.

. Take the words of wisdom from someone else and turn them into something visually inspiring.

. The Surrealists embraced automatic drawing as way to incorporate randomness and the subconscious into their drawings, and to free themselves from artistic conventions and everyday thinking.

. Have you ever had a spiritual experience in your life? Paint what it felt like intuitively.

. Soft, cuddly objects can be very comforting. This project could be used to create an imaginary animal from your intuitive drawings.

. Spontaneously find out what would bring you more joy through this intuitive collage exercise

What does home mean to you? This activity will have you create a safe, warm place that feels like home to you.

We all have to do things that we're scared or unsure of sometimes. Use this activity as a chance to commemorate one instance in your life.

. This invention should do something that can help make you happier– no matter what that is.

. Send your prayers for yourself or those around you out into the universe with this project.

This drawing or painting should reflect where you have been, who you are today, and how see yourself in the future.

. On the outside of a paper bag, you'll create a self-portrait. On the inside, you'll fill it with things that represent who you are.

. This is a great way to acknowledge what really matters to you and express your gratitude.

Create an intuitive collage and discover more about yourself.

. Paint in expressive colors. Select colors for emotional impact.

Start thinking about yourself as a strong, capable person by drawing yourself as a warrior in this activity.

. Transform your perceptions about yourself with this list of self-portrait ideas.

. Using objects that have meaning to you, create a portrait of yourself.

Practice life drawing to fall in love with all of the varieties of the human body, including your own.

. This activity is based around a Piet Mondrian quote: "The purer the artist's mirror is, the more true reality reflects in it."

Many people like superhero stories. We resonate with the themes in the stories, with the dilemmas and problems that superheroes face, and we aspire to their noble impulses and heroic acts.

An art therapy directive for finding your safe place.

. A diorama can showcase an important moment in your life or something from your imagination.

. Creativity is a great way to notice your worries, move through them and transform them into something new.

. Everyone is frightened of something and in this project you'll get a chance to bring that fear to light and hopefully work towards facing it.

. Struggling with a potentially terminal illness? Process your feelings about your illness.

If you've lost someone you love, process it in your art journal.

. Sand painting is practiced in many cultures, usually for healing purposes. Create beautiful patterns with sand on canvas.

. Collage a vision board. Fill it with images you find motivating.

. We all wear masks of some sort. This project lets you showcase what's in your mask and the face you put on for the world.

. Intuitive collage is a process of quieting your everyday mind and inviting imagery to express the story of your inner world.

Choose collage elements that you find soothing, calming or even meditative and combine them to create a collage to help you to relax.

. Incorporate collage symbolism in a painting.

Creating drawings of your good traits will help you to become more positive and build a better self-image.

Is there an animal that you have a special interest in or feel like is a kindred spirit? Draw yourself as that animal.

Timeline the most important moments of your life through this writing therapy exercise.

. Choose jungle animals that you find the most interesting, draw them, and then reflect on why you've chosen these specific animals.

If you could make yourself into the perfect person, what would you look like?

Explore your many emotions through painting.

Your fingerprints are as unique as you are. Use ink and paint to make art that uses your fingerprints.

Your roots will be loaded with descriptions of things that give you strength and your good qualities, while your leaves can be the things that you're trying to change.

. In this project, you'll put fragments of yourself into a box, helping construct a whole and happier you.

What was a pivotal memory in your childhood? This activity asks you to document it and try to understand why it was so important to you.

. If you could put yourself into a happily ever after situation, what role would you play and how would the story go? Create a book that tells the tale.

. This creative project asks you to make a visual representation of your life.

. Choose symbols that represent your strengths to build your own special coat of arms.

Enjoy a moment of levity with this exercise that will focus in on a comical event that happened to you.

Websites are very versatile ways to express yourself. Build your own to express what's most important about you.

. First, collage or paint a box the represents you. Then, place items inside the box that represent the things you value the most.

. What things are you grateful for in your life? Paint or collage a work that represents these things.

. This exercise honors those around you who support you. Paint those close to you who offer you the strength you need.

. Making something for someone else can be a great way to feel good and help someone else do so as well.

. Who are the anchors in your life? In this project, you'll make an anchor and decorate it with the people and things that provide you stability and strength.

Everyone has at least one good thing in life, so sit down and figure out what makes you happy– then draw it.

. Explore the symbolism of hand casting.

. Paint rocks for relaxation and fun.

. What are you grateful for? This clay project asks you to write those things on leaves to construct a tree.

A Life Map helps you discover what you want for yourself and your life

. Write ideas about how you are unique on the snowflake.

This is a highly personal project that will help connect you with your spiritual side and honor your resilience.

. Like a classic Rorschach test, fold paper in half with paint or ink in the middle and describe what you see.

Make a visual representation of your thoughts to figure out how your mind works.

. Having bad dreams? Create this age-old tool for catching your dreams with a few simple tools.

You can learn a lot from what goes on in your dreams, so keep a dream journal and use it for inspiration to draw or paint.

. Leaves, sticks, dirt, clay and other natural materials can help you get in touch with the natural world and the more primal side of yourself.

. Study the archetypes to help you explore how you see and create your world.

. You don't need paper when you have your body. Paint on your hands and feet or anywhere else to feel more in touch with yourself.

. Weave life and love into a creation by making something solely by hand with materials from nature.

You can reuse old items that have meaning to you or just re-purpose something you have laying around. Either way, you'll get insights into how you can reshape and reevaluate your own life.

If you're uncomfortable using old photos you can make copies. Explore these mixed media techniques with your old photos.

. How would you have painted the Mona Lisa? Using a famous work as your inspiration, create your own work. It could help reveal more about your lens on the world.

Art can be better when two work at it together, so find a partner and collaborate on just about anything.

. Whether it's something sharp or something soft, make your own artistic tool and use it to express what you're feeling.

Reflect upon your spiritual side with this project that lets you create your own stained glass window.

Windows let you see in and see out. Paint yours with things you want to hide or show to the world.