Creative discourse can be a powerful support for students’ social and emotional learning. Through the creative process, art projects enhance self-expression, improve emotional well-being, and provide new ways to identify, process, and deal with major emotions. In this collection, you will find works of art inspired by principles commonly used in art therapy. Although these activities encourage self-expression and emotional expression, they are not intended to replace mental health services.
What is art therapy?
Art therapy is a therapeutic process that combines psychotherapy and art. By using creative techniques such as painting, drawing, coloring, collage, and sculpture, people can express themselves creatively. In a therapeutic setting, certified art therapists can help clients explore the underlying emotional and psychological aspects of their art in order to better understand and process their feelings and behaviors.
According to art therapy manager Tammy Shella, “The main concept of art therapy is to use art as an alternative form of expression, especially for things that may be difficult to express verbally. The art therapist and patient can discuss art: its content, the ‘story’ it tells, and/or the emotions it represents that can help the patient gain insight or personal understanding.”
Although teachers cannot act as classroom therapists, art can help children explore their feelings, improve self-esteem, relieve stress, and alleviate anxiety and depression. Here are some simple art therapy-inspired activities that will help your students identify and manage their emotions.
1. Create selfie collages
According to research, taking selfies can promote self-esteem and self-acceptance. Have students create collages that represent different aspects of their personalities or lives using magazines, fabric scraps, and other materials.
2. Make art from nature
According to the American Psychological Association, being in nature can improve our mental health and sharpen our understanding. Go outside and collect things like twigs, leaves, stones, and flowers, and use those things to make something meaningful.
3. Weave friendship bracelets
Teach students to make friendship bracelets as a way to reflect and value their relationships. An added benefit is that some art therapists believe that the simple act of focusing on creating complex designs can relieve stress!
4. Make masks
In art therapy, creating or decorating a mask often leads to exploring different aspects of our personality. Sometimes we can create a mask that reveals things that are difficult to reveal. Encourage students to make masks that represent their feelings. They can also decorate the masks to show the intensity and nature of the emotion.
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These mask templates have everything you need to inspire students, like characters, animals and more!
5. Create a magazine photo mashup
Dr. Cathy Malchiodi describes the magazine photo collage process as “using images to create a visual story that enhances the dialogue between client and therapist.”
Ask students to cut out pictures from magazines that catch their eye. Then give them a piece of paper and glue and have them sort the pictures into a collection. If they like, ask them to narrate their process as they go.
6. Raise your flag
Encourage students to design and create a flag that represents who they are, their values, dreams, and aspirations. This activity can be especially helpful when helping children get in touch with their true selves, personal goals, and sense of identity.
7. Create mood mandalas
According to research, creating mandala art is a therapeutic method that can be used to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression among students. In fact, it can especially help those with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
8. Make dream catchers
Some therapists use dream catchers to help promote better sleep in children who experience nightmares or are “preoccupied with thoughts, worries, fears, or negative memories that may interfere with a good night’s sleep.” Making them is easy and fun and can help babies feel safer and more secure at bedtime.
9. Identify the story of the hero
Storyboarding allows children to participate in a design process where they can tell stories by drawing emotional expressions. Ask your children to create a comic strip or storyboard that tells the story of a hero—a different name for it—overcoming challenges.
10. Turn on the worried doll
Steeped in Guatemalan history, therapists have found anxiety dolls to be invaluable in helping children cope with difficult emotions, especially grief. Using clothespins, twigs, and other common objects, students can “create a very special ‘friend’ who can listen to their worries and fears.”
11. Fill in the memory box
Memory boxes “protect and easily hold memories, secrets, narratives, and emotions. They provide space for creativity, storytelling, exploration, and writing.” Have students decorate boxes to hold special memories, treasures, and things that are important to them from the school year.
12. Hang gratitude chains
Expressing gratitude can provide physical and psychological benefits such as reduced anxiety and depression as well as improved sleep, mood, and immunity. A great way to bring this into the classroom is to have students create a chain or banner that focuses on gratitude.
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These gratitude worksheets will help you encourage your students to recognize and appreciate the good things (big and small) that happen in their lives.
13. Pieces of the puzzle
Use a simple puzzle template to make the puzzle pieces. Then, each student decorates a puzzle piece that represents them. This can help children explore the concept of identity and what makes each person unique.
14. Spin the wheel of emotions
The wheel of emotions can help children “learn to understand and process emotions, increase self-awareness, improve emotional communication, and improve well-being.” Have the children make a wheel out of a piece of paper that can be spun; each part has a different feeling or coping strategy.
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Having a mood chart helps students identify and name their feelings as they experience them, or as they learn to manage their emotions throughout the day.
15. Make a family template
As an art therapist, Dr. Cathy Malchiodi recommends art therapy activities that encourage children to create a clay family sculpture. The size, shape, and arrangement of family members invite conversations about the important people and relationships in their lives.
16. Ask for specific feelings
The therapeutic use of pottery has been associated with physical, mental, and cognitive improvements. Give students clay to shape and mold. They can create figures or objects that represent their feelings or important life events.
17. Paint or draw music
Did you know you can use music as a message? Play different types of music and have students paint or draw what they hear when they hear the music. Remember, art and music therapies are less about creating a work of art and more about the process of self-discovery and healing. It’s okay to get wasted (in fact, that might be the goal)!
18. Follow silhouette stories
Students trace their silhouettes on a large piece of paper, then fill in the silhouette with pictures and words that tell their story. This social work perspective of “Inside Out / Outside In” has children “drawing and/or writing about themselves (the ‘inside’) and how others see them (the ‘outside’).
19. Guided graphics
Guided imagery has been used for centuries to activate the mind-body connection. This can “enhance a person’s sense of happiness” and reduce stress and anxiety. Lead a guided imagery session, or use a meditation app like Insight Timer and have students draw the scenes or feelings they imagine.
20. Create personal posters
Research shows that having poster media in the classroom can make learning more meaningful. Take that a step further by having students create posters with inspirational quotes or messages that resonate with them, using art and writing.
21. Press stress balls
Research shows that squeezing a stress ball can help manage “temporary stress and tension by providing a tactile distraction and promoting relaxation,” which can be very helpful in the classroom! It’s easy to turn stress balls into art therapy projects by making them out of balloons and flour or rice. Then, children can decorate the balloons with faces or patterns.
22. Chart the map of life
Life maps can provide a visual representation of our journey, goals, and needs. When we feel stuck in a moment, it can help us see the bigger picture. In class, students can create life maps of their lives, including past events, present lives, and future dreams.
