These days, your kids can be experiencing all the feels, from sadness and anxiety to feeling distant, lonely, and bored. To assist kids in recognizing and controlling their emotions, we could include a few art therapy exercises.
1. Make art with nature
Working with natural materials is soothing and helps ground us. Plus, you can find beautiful materials to work with by just taking a walk outside. Make nature bracelets, sun-catchers, or create beautiful weavings with natural materials.
2. Creating collages
Creating collages is a very therapeutic activity with a two-fold benefit. The physical sensation of handling different materials and textures—soft, scratchy, rigid—is very comforting. And the creative process of putting things together in a new and different way helps organize and calm your brain.
3. Make masks
Making or embellishing a mask as part of art therapy frequently leads to exploring various facets of our personalities. Sometimes we can put on a mask to hide emotions that are difficult to communicate. Give your child a mask that is already created, or have them construct one out of paper and let them decorate it however they like. Ask them to tell you the history of the mask after they are done.
4. Painting
One of the various art therapy techniques that may be employed with great freedom is painting. Children may use tools including spray paint, watercolors, and acrylic paints to make artwork. Painting can be combined with movement and music. Some children struggle with concentration or decision-making. For those who have trouble starting a task, painting is a great option.
5. Creating mandalas
Drawing figures with repeated patterns, like mandalas, is good for regulating emotions and the nervous system. It can help kids focus their attention and calm down. After drawing them, they can color them in! Mandala making or coloring can be a wonderfully meditative exercise for emotional expression, centering, and self-soothing.
6. Writing
Writing in an expressive journal might include words, pictures, sketches, collages, or other visual representations of feelings, ideas, memories, goals, and other inner experiences.
Children can practice honest self-expression in a safe environment provided by the journal.
7. Sculpting or Modelling
Clay can be molded and remolded, so creating sculptures out of it during a session can be quite relaxing.
8. Self-portraiture
A sequence of self-portraits can show how a child views their identity evolving over time. Self-portraiture utilizing a variety of mediums can be quite cathartic. These can be created by various artistic techniques, such as drawing, painting, mask-making, sculpture, photography, or mixed media.
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