Family Art Activities

Art is a great way to have fun with the people you love, and create cherished family memories in the process. In this lens, you'll find ideas for family art activities.

For many, family night means movie night or game night. Why not try an art night for a change. Next time you are looking for something to do, get the whole family to do an art project together. You might create a family collage or collaborate on a painting. Drawing games are lots of fun because everyone can get involved. You may choose to create your own or purchase a store bought box game. Check out the ideas and the resources below.

Do you think your family might enjoy spending quality time together on art projects? Here are some ideas for you to consider:

1. Scheduling an afternoon or evening at a local ceramic studio can be lots of fun. A few years ago on my birthday, I spent the afternoon with my family, glazing a ceramic serving dish together. And now I have a memory of that day to share with guests.

2. During vacation, go to an art museum or gallery together and have everyone choose their favorite piece of artwork and explain why they made that choice.

3. Plan a mailbox painting activity. As a family design and paint your mailbox. Make sure everyone gets input and is represented in the final painting.

5. Create a family collage using recent vacation photos.

6. Collaborate on a painting that will decorate an empty wall in your home.

7. Have fun making gifts together for Grandparents, family friends and relatives.

8. Spend time playing with online art activities. (Check out the great Web site reviewed below.)

9. Play art games on paper. (some ideas below)

10. Create ceramic or plaster pieces to decorate the garden. There are plastic molds that can be purchased to make a path of stepping stones for the garden. Each family member might be responsible for a different stepping stone.and decorate it the way they choose.

11. As a family, design a mural for one of the walls in your home. Then each person takes a section of the mural to paint.

12. Create a family hand print painting. On a canvas, board or paper, trace a hand from each family member. Everyone gets to paint, decorate or color their own hand print. You can place the hands in a row or in any pattern or design you choose. The hands may just be filled in with color or you might choose to write words (favorite things, sayings, quotes), or collage the space.

13. When my daughter was little we would make a carousel of animals, people and things, using playdough, small toy parts and tiny people. It provided hours of fun. We built it on a round cookie sheet which made it easy to turn and move to another location if we chose.

14. We recently had an electrical line placed in the ceiling. In order to do this, a large strip of dry wall was cut, leaving an opening in the ceiling from one end of the room to the other. This left the ceiling beams visible. So, with markers in hand, our family drew on the exposed beams and wrote messages that are now hidden after repairing the ceiling...but we know what's under there.

Share your ideas for Family Art Activities, in the comments section at the bottom of this lens, and I can add them to the list.

One of my favorite extended family memories took place at a gathering of cousins, aunts and uncles when we played Pictionary. I had played it before, but until then, I had no idea how much fun it could be. Maybe it was because I was playing with a group of people I had known all of my life. (For those of you unfamiliar with the game of Pictionary, it is a team board game similar to charades but you draw the clues so your team can guess the words.)

Another drawing game is Squiggle, where you are given a random line and have limited time to turn it into a drawing.

Although most family art activities don't come in a ready made box, there are a few art games that can be loads of fun for the whole family.

Jody Cramer shared some of her family's art activities. Here they are:

Group Doodle - Using a big piece of paper (like butcher block paper) and markers, everyone takes turns, briefly doodling on the paper in front of them and passing the markers around. The paper is turned every few minutes so participants are doodling in different spaces. When the paper is full, everyone signs somewhere on the sheet.

Doodle with Collage - Using Magazines, everyone cuts 2 or 3 things from the magazine and glues them anywhere onto the paper. Then the group can doodle around and over the pictures.

Doodle with Paint - Paint the paper first and let it dry. Next time you doodle you can use the painted paper. The type of paint or paper used can depend on the supplies you have on hand.

Jody's family has no rules to their group doodles and they hang them up for a day or two after completion. Thanks Jody.

If you are looking for a resource on doing art with your children, you may be interested in Doing Art Together.

The book is based on the methods taught in the parent-child workshops given at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book is beautifully illustrated and offers a hands-on art course with step-by-step, no-fail projects for beginners of any age or ability.

A Drawing Game

WatchamaDRAWit can be played alone or with the family. It is a fast paced drawing game with 110 cards that give you silly prompts. The first person to complete the instructions wins the card.

After a family vacation, consider creating a page of memories that can either be framed or added to a Family Vacation Book. Materials needed: paper, vacation photos, maps, travel brochures, markers, pens, colored pencils, glue, and anything you would like to add to the page that represents your trip adventures. You could probably complete this within an hour.

• Mark off a half inch or quarter inch border on all sides before you begin.
• Cut out and glue photos, images and items from your trip leaving space for captions, comments and any drawings you would like to add.
• With markers, pens or pencils, add captions to the pictures, drawings if you'd like and any creative extras.
• If this is to be part of a Vacation Book, create a cover with a picture of each family member and/or a group shot along with anything that represents family fun. Then staple the cover and your vacation memory page to several blank pages. Or you can punch holes down the top or side and use ribbon to hold the album together.

Another Family Art Project

Here's a fun, do it yourself, picture frame decorating idea. This is something to consider if you'd like a unique frame for a recent vacation photo. And while you are working on this together you all get to share your favorite vacation memories.

With the use of glue, decoupage, or a glue gun, decorate a plain or simple frame with memorabilia from your trip. You might use: shells, sand, post cards, maps, pages from tourist brochures, tickets, papers or cloth. You might include something from your favorite locations.

Of course, it may help to plan ahead and collect things during the trip.

Creating Memories: Family Projects

Shari Davis describes a project she did with her whole family and helps get you started on your own family memory book.

Another example for creating memory books can be found at Extraordinary Lives. There is a detailed description of how to put one together, with a list of the supplies needed.

This is a perfect project for the family to do together. As you work on the pages of the book, you can all share stories, special moments, and memories of the loved one.

If you are thinking of creating a family tree to hang in your home, check out these links and see if they can help you get your project started.

Another Family Project Idea

You and your children might consider decorating a ceramic pot or planter. Then choose a small plant or seed to plant together and watch it grow throughout the year. The plant can become a symbol of how we all change and grow.

Here's a project that gets the whole family involved with the benefit of having an entire year to appreciate the gifts of the process. Whether you start from scratch and create your own calendar, print calendar pages from the internet, or start with a pre-made blank calendar, family calendar making is suitable for any age range.

Everyone gets the fun of decorating one or more pages. The individual artist may choose to draw, paint, or collage an image for any month, or pages might be a source of collaboration for two or more family members. Other ideas:

-Using markers, create a page with favorite family jokes and memories incorporated into a design.

-Set aside one page for a collage of photos with the calendar artists, or a group photo.

-Make the process even more fun. Have a family calendar making party with treats and music.

The National Gallery of Art (NGA) has a fantastic site for kids. There are a number of impressive activities to choose from; fun and educational for both children and adults. This is a good site for families to spend time together. Here are just a few of the many art activities:

Their painting machine, named Brushster, offers different textures, special effects and more. The Collage Machine and Collage Machine II allows you to choose shapes and objects from different palettes and change their size and transparency. (Note: click on the green arrows to change the available palette.)

Jungle is an interactive tool inspired by the paintings of Henri Rousseau. It allows you to create an imaginary landscape with choice of animals, foliage, lighting and more. You can even make it rain!

And check out Flow, a motion painting machine where you create two moving layers ("paths") of color and design that will play simultaneously.

And that's not all...You can learn more about the NGAkids Art Zone for iPad.

This is an excellent play dough recipe.

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cup water

1 Tbs. oil

1 Tbs. cream of tartar

Food coloring or liquid watercolor

Mix all the ingredients together. Add color before cooking. Then cook on medium heat until it changes consistency and sticks together. It keeps well in a container when kept in the refrigerator.

Here's a game that encourages kids to learn about the history of art. The whole family can play together and brush up on their art history knowledge. The game includes true or false, multiple choice and trivia with both easy and hard to answer questions.

Check Out Pictionary Man

Pictionary Man is a combination of Pictionary and charades. The clues show up on the bottom of the Pictionary Man's feet. You can draw and act out words. The man is made to draw on