101 Ideas

36. Read Your Favorite Book From Childhood

2006-12-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

Remember the magic of reading as a child? Remember how you felt when you first opened In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, or A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle? How about Harriet the Spy, or even Harry Potter? Why not take an afternoon and crack open one of these books and reconnect with your childhood imagination?

Don't recollect any books from your childhood? Try one of these:

The Golden Compass (book 1 from His Dark Materials Trilogy) By Philip Pullman
The Lord of the Rings Series By J.R.R. Tokien
Island of the Blue Dolphins By Scott O'Dell
Where the Sidewalk Ends By Shel Silverstein
The Boxcar Children By Gertrude Chandler Warner
Where The Wild Things Are By Maurice Sendak
Dominic By William Steig
Yertle the Turtle By Dr. Seuss
Frog and Toad By Arnold Lobel

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34. Random Acts of Art

2006-12-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

Create random, temporary art works wherever you go:

While walking along the beach or in the woods, collect stones & pile them in interesting patterns
Collect pretty colored leaves and create a patterned leaf blanket on the grass
make quick sketches of something (a tree, a building, a sign, etc), and tape or tack the sketch to the object
make and stack snowballs in various patterns throughout a field, or along the sidewalks
hang ornaments from trees, etc.

Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature
	Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy uses a seemingly infinite array of purely natural materials, from snow and ice to leaves, stone, and twigs in the creation of his one-of-a-kind sculptures. was $55.00 now $34.65 \| Buy Now

33. Find your favorite toy from childhood and play with it

2006-12-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

Whether it was with hot wheels, pez, wheel-o's, erector sets, leggos, etc. there was a time we all played & played quite seriously. Why not find that favored toy and recreate the seriousness with which you used to play?

Classic Magic 8 Ball
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32. Make Snow Angels

2006-12-07T13:16:00.000-07:00

If you live somewhere that gets snow - the next time you get the wintry white stuff, bundle up, go outside & make some snow angels.

While you're at it, build a snow creature or an igloo, and have a snow ball fight with your friends, or the neighborhood kids.

If you don't live somewhere that is graced by snow, you can always take the Andy Goldsworthy route & make Rain Prints. The next time it looks like it's gonna' rain - go outside and lay on the ground for a few minutes while it drizzles. You'll get wet, the ground around you will get wet - but underneath you will stay dry. Stand up & for a few seconds, you'll have a Rain Print of your silhouette. (c'mon, it won't hurt ya', it's just a little rain).

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31. Meditate

2006-12-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Find a nice quiet, comfortable place to sit, and meditate for 10, 20, or 30 minutes.

Having a hard time Meditating? Some tips...

Find a quiet place free from distraction
Sit with your limbs uncrossed and with a straight back, hands in your lap
Simply breathe at regular speed but breathe deeply and relax
Take a simple phrase and repeat it continuously in time with your breathing
Close your eyes and think of a beautiful scene from the natural world

30. Visit a Museum

2006-12-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

Visit an art gallery or Museum. Take your sketchbook or journal and write about or draw what you see/like.

29. Become a Super Hero for a Day

2006-12-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

Instead of using the term "hat" to describe your different roles, why not don a cape? Think of each role as a different super hero. There's nothing wrong with using that "Super Mom" or "Super Dad" title - so long as you have your super hero outfit on.

Need help visualizing yourself as a super hero?

Try printing out these magnets from HP.com - complete with photo frames, Ka-Plow! graphics, text, & speach bubbles - you can let your friends and family know which super hero you are today. (all you need are a few sheets of Magnet-paper, available at Office Depot-Max-Staples... an inkjet printer, & some scissors)

Evil-doers Beware!

28. A Symbol of Your Creative Desire

2006-12-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create

This can be anything! A book, a journal, a tea cup, a pen, a notecard with an image you really like on it, a toy, a spatula... anything, as long as it infuses you with that same joy & energy you felt as a child.

Use it Everyday!

27. Play

2006-11-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Make a list of your 5 favorite childhood activities and do one.

Your list might include:

26. Make Chalkboard Art

2006-11-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Image by Jennifer Scott McLaughlin

Either buy or make your own Chalkboard, hang it like a piece of artwork & each week create a new drawing or doodle to display.

25. Mandala Coloring Pages

2006-11-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Download, print, and color any of the following Mandala Coloring pages:

Resource: Marc Bove

24. Artist's Date

2006-11-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

From Julia Cameron's lips to your imagination, treat your inner artist to a weekly date. This can be a walk in the park, an hour of creative time, a trip to the movies, hardware store, or thrift store. Anything that treats that inner artist.

Other ideas for artist dates:

go for a bike ride; include the steep hill you loved to fly down as a child
go to the circus
go to a large bookstore and use it as your own, personal, book museum; gather arm-loads of books and browse soaking up all the image.
take a walk during your lunch break and really notice everything around you
listen to your favorite music while sipping on a cup of hot cocoa or cappucino
take a long soak in a hot bathtub
browse a craft gallery -- the stores that sell what other crafters/artists make
fly a kite
make a snow creature
take a walk while it is snowing and listen for the gentle sound of the flakes coming to rest, make a snow angel before you go inside for a rest by the fireplace or a mug of cocoa or soup
color in a coloring book
watch a Pooh video
read aloud several children's books to yourself; have fun creating different voices for the different characters or adding expression to your reading
watch the sun rise or set
Resource: Artist's Dates

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23. Words of Wisdom

2006-11-25T19:11:00.001-07:00

Photo by risiblelady.

Anonymously write words of wisdom on the sidewalk with chalk

22. Find an Old Photograph

2006-11-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

Photo by pgirolami.

Find an old photograph, describe the image to someone who can’t see the picture. Create a story about the objects, people, or events in the photograph

21. Draw on your Shower walls!

2006-11-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Some of my best ideas come when I'm in the shower & more often than not I wish I had something with which to record the thoughts. Now, a mini tape recorder in the bath or shower is probably not the best idea, and paper tends to get soggy. Then it hit me, why not buy a set of soap-crayons & draw on the shower walls?

It washes off, and is so much fun!

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20. Marvelous list

2006-11-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Look up the word Marvel (or Marvelous) in the dictionary. Find as many synonyms for it as you can, then write each of those words in a new & marvelous way, making a marvelous list.

19. Dictionary Haikus

2006-11-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

by Magister Spencer Boegeman.

If you're a word geek like me, you usually have a dictionary handy, so that whenever you come across a word with a curious tone to it, you can flip open your dicationary & look up, not only its meaning, but its etymological roots.

Why not try this:

General rules for Haiku:
3-short lines
1-season word (any word that might allude to the time of year)
1-cutting word
no rhyme or metaphor
(17 syllables, usually 5-7-5, although in the English language this is less stringent)

How

Haiku for People

18. Free Associate

2006-11-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a great exercise from Luna Niña

Ten words to which you can respond, writing the first thing that comes to mind:

Teacher ::

Fifty ::

Crossword ::

Stuffed ::

Family ::

Purr ::

Toad ::

Cocktail ::

Insecurity ::

Magical ::

There are no rules. There are no right or wrong answers. Don't limit yourself to one word responses; just say everything that pops into your head.

If you like this exercise, head over to Luna Niña's site, where there are daily Free Association lists posted.

17. Write a story

2006-11-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Write a story beginning with:

As a child I….
I remember….
The last time I….
Today I saw | heard | noticed….

16. Panoramic Photo Collage

2006-11-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Photo by CowGummy

Create a Panoramic Photo collage from 3x5 images:

Take pictures of your living room | office | kitchen | yard or whatever, by standing in one spot and turning around as you click (don’t forget to look up and down as you take your pictures). Develop or download the pictures & print them out. Collage the images by lining them up to make one big picture a la David Hockney.

15. Automatic Writing

2006-11-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

Photo by Angie Geworsky & Richard Klassen.

For 15 minutes write everything that pops into your brain without editing, censoring, or worrying about spelling or grammar.

14. Record Your Day

2006-11-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Photo by AndrewMorrell.

Take a small tape recorder or digital recorder with you & record the sounds you encounter in your day. Come home and make a written or pictorial transcript of the recording.

13. Picasso Portrait

2006-11-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

Picasso Portrait: Look in the mirror and draw a self-portrait without looking at your paper, and without lifting your pencil from the paper’s surface. This is actually called a "blind contour" drawing.

Try doing this each morning. Or, if you're not into drawing yourself, draw someone or something else. Not only does this hone hand-eye coordination, but it helps your observation skills as well.

12. Create a Wish Bulletin Board

2006-11-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Image by Hugh Janus.

Create a wish bulletin board

illustrate your wishes and pin them to the bulletin board. Hang the bulletin board somewhere where you see it every day.

11. Make a paper Animal Menagerie

2006-11-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Photo by Himanshu (Mumbai, India).

Using origami techniques, make a folded paper animal menagerie and hang them from your ceiling. Write a wish, hope, dream, or goal on the center of each piece of paper before you start folding and once finished display them in an artful way by piercing a hole and stringing them at different lengths from the ceiling above your favorite chair or your bed.