Harrison Cooper
Meaningful conversations and laughter seem to come about naturally when we sit down to color, paint or craft. I know that when my kids are grown, some of my favorite memories will be of the times we sat at the kitchen table crafting or snuggled up on the couch to color together. “Now that my children are older (17, 14, and 10), our favorite way to connect creatively as a family is through making signs.
Once we’ve penciled in the words, we trace with Sharpie, then we paint with watercolor.
Sometimes we’ll even splatter some gold paint on top for a finishing touch. “The biggest way that my family connects through creativity is by drawing and painting at the dining table.
We keep tons of supplies (markers, crayons, paint, brushes, paper) on the bottom shelf of the pantry so the girls can get into it themselves and I never say “no” to art time. “I like to keep things as easy and low mess as possible most of the time, so drawing is probably our favourite creative activity to do together.
When my kids were little a giant piece of paper and a tub of crayons was our favourite activity. Now that my kids are getting older, we like draw part of a picture and then leave it on someone’s pillow with a little note for them to add something and then pass it on. Even when life is crazy busy and I have kids and teenagers going in every direction, I can always find a quiet moment to leave a drawing on a pillow.” – Kate “Our favorite creative activity would be to pull paper and markers out and come up with silly, easy drawing projects like this one.” – Jeanette
Favorite Creative Activity :: Surprise Ferocious Beings Paper Project Favorite Creative Activity :: Tracing Paper Leaf Cards and Art It’s also nice to work on a “theme” for each child so they can learn and grow through a creative process and realize it can have an impact on just not themselves but others.
It started out with her love of drawing rainbows and spread into a kindness platform for helping a worthy cause chosen by my daughter (homelessness). It’s also inspired a movement across the world for other children to spread kindness in a simple way. By sharing her creativity, my daughter has built confidence and compassion and our family has bonded over the project.” – Agnes
Favorite Creative Activity :: Spread Kindness Through The Rainbow Rock Project It’s a great wind-down time and serves as a lovely way to reconnect and find out about each other’s days.
The kids love to paint, draw, make crazy creations with play dough, write stories and design characters, as well as make up silly songs and compositions at the piano. I love to sit alongside them making play resources for the littlest and joining in their buzz and chatter!
“My family’s favorite way of connecting is through a large scale art project. Thinking of the kitchen as a laboratory to test new ideas can instill children with confidence to invent their own solutions to a problem, encourage independent thinking and problem skills, and find their way around a kitchen.” – Rachelle
This tradition started when my older daughter was two-years-old and she helped make her own birthday cake. Our baking tradition has evolved into our family’s favorite way to express kindness and appreciation to people in our lives.
Every holiday, we make goodies to package up and give to others as a way of expressing appreciation.
I see this as an important tradition because it provides a way of expressing gratitude at a concrete level that my kids can easily grasp and have a part in creating.
In addition, they have witnessed the profound impact simple acts of kindness can have on someone’s life. I am delighted to see my daughters (now ten and thirteen) implementing this “sweet” gratitude practice for others without any prompting (or help) from me.
Both are always a hit with my kids and make for lots of giggles and family fun.” – Ana I never enjoyed science as a kid and over the past few years as I’ve begun to explore it more I’ve found that engaging with new-to-me materials and experimenting has really been an incredible bonding experience for me and my kids. While we squirt vinegar or build ramps we have an amazing time working together, talking about things we see, and using our imaginations to create.“ – Kristina
“Our favorite way to connect creatively is making and playing traditional games from around the world.
People might not immediately think of games as an artistic or creative endeavor but it’s amazing the way creative thinking can turn something that seems rigid (game rules) into an experiment in innovation.” – Erica Favorite Creative Activities :: Design a Paper Glider and Make Toilet Roll Airplanes
“So often parents vilify screen time, but we love creating things with our kids on our iPhone. I think as long as moderate screen time serves a purpose (creating, connecting, learning), it can hold great value for children.
Author of Red Ted Art: Cute and Easy Crafts for Kids
“As my children get older (they are now 7 and 9 yrs old), I find the way we connect through creativity is evolving.
When they were small, it would be about sitting down at the kitchen table and all working on a similar project. Now, I find… the kids often have a blast finding a cardboard box and decorating it into something amazing.
Be the kids creating their cardboard box airplanes together or me working individually with one of the children.” – Maggy
