"Out of The Box Activities" Fun Things to Do For Seniors
A Sample Art Project
I've included one of the art projects designed for seniors, in my new book, soon to be released, "Out of The Box Activities," copyright 2011 by Coloring Arts.
Beach Paintings: Paintings of beach and ocean scenes with watercolor or acrylic paints are easy and fun for beginners to experts. (The following steps are an example)
a. You will need the following for this project: Watercolor paper (comes in packs--not expensive type), water containers, watercolor paint or tubes of acrylic in green or shades of blue, brushes, masking tape, and fish stickers or stamps-(optional).
b. Tape each piece of watercolor paper to a table, covering all four sides of the paper and covering at least 1/2" of the paper with the masking tape as shown.
Designing Your Picture
c. Take several strips of masking tape, and tear the tape into shapes like coral or sea weed, help those that have difficulty using their fingers. Then, have them put the strips on the bottom of their painting as shown.
d. After all the strips of tape are in place, brush water over the entire surface of the picture. With different shades of blue or green, paint across the water covered surface with long horizontal strokes. Let the paint flow in different patterns, especially covering the tape with color.
Uncovering Your Design
e. When the paper is fairly dry, carefully remove your torn tape. Start with the small edges of the tape and work down to the bottom. Your painting should now look similar to the one pictured.
f. If your picture is dry, you can now remove the tape around the edges. It will help to flatten the pictures by putting something heavy on them over night. You can now paint your own bright colored fish over the coral backgrounds. If this is too difficult for some, you can place fish stickers (which are self adhesive) or use stamps that can be colored. There are also foam stickers available, that are quite reasonable, in all sorts of sea-life shapes (as pictured).
The Finished Painting
Now that their paintings are finished, be sure to display them for all to see. The white edges, left by the masking tape, makes a nice boarder and can be left as shown. You may also add colored paper behind the pictures to make them stand out even more, or mat them.
