As part of our foundational mission at Golden Road Arts, we are committed to inspiring young artists to unleash their creativity through our free kids’ art lessons online and at in-person learning events. We also believe that growth in art and art literacy is a family endeavor, and today we’ll be providing 5 great art projects your family can enjoy together.
5 Easy Family Art Projects
There are many benefits of doing art as a family at home, including helping develop a child’s fine motor skills and interpersonal abilities. And a note to parents before we get started—don’t worry about or downplay your own artistic skills, as these projects are all concerned with family bonding and learning in mind. Now, let’s check out our 5 projects.
1. Painted Rocks
Venture outside together to select rocks, then clean them. With so many shapes and textures of rock, everyone gets to pick one that’s perfect for them. While rock painting kits are available, having acrylic paints and brushes on hand for future projects is a good idea. Have your children decide what designs they want to make, like flowers, frogs, stars, etc., and have them paint the rocks as they see fit.
2. Family Collages
Collages are a great way to tell a story. Have everyone look through magazines, coloring books, and other print media to select pictures and words that describe them. If you have a printer on hand, you can also find images and phrases online to print. When everyone has their pictures chosen and cut out, use poster board, foam board or recycled cardboard as a base to attach the pictures with your chosen adhesive. Everyone can discuss why they chose their images, and what it says about who they are in the family.
3. Decorative Baskets
At any time of year decorative baskets can be fun and useful. Whether making a spring-themed basket with ribbons, bows and bunnies, or trick-or-treating baskets in autumn with spider webs, bats and black cats, children can put their imaginations to work on a basket that represents their personality. A plain wicker or plastic basket can serve as a base for many projects.
Parents can make baskets to hold flowers or personal belongings, whatever can be imagined. And while Projects 1–3 are great for younger children, Projects 4–5 are geared towards families with kids of all ages (especially middle school students).
4. Design Your Own Game Board
Making your own chess board or checkerboard is a great opportunity to use multiple art media and materials. Again, cardboard or sturdy foam board would come in handy here. Then you can draw, paint, use markers, pens or other media to create the squares of the game board. After the family-designed board is dry, use glue or other adhesive to attach the paper to the board. To keep it simple, use the game pieces from a manufactured “boxed” game. This project can be completed with other family-favorite games as well.
5. Card Games
Similar to Project 4, you can create your own collectible card game or add special cards to an existing game’s deck for a “family rules” experience. This project in particular displays how parents can encourage creativity in their children. Collectible card games remain popular with kids of all ages, and working together using cardstock, paint, markers, colored pencils, pens and more to create their own characters and stats is a great way to develop your child’s imagination, storytelling ability, and increase their understanding of math. You can also create high cards in a traditional deck of playing cards using family members’ photos as the joker, ace, king, queen and jack/knave.
We hope your family can enjoy one (or many) of these projects together, and we’d love to see your creations! Tag us @GoldenRoadArts on social media if you post pictures.
Check Out More Kids’ Art Lessons Free Online for Your Family
If you enjoyed these suggestions and would like to support our efforts in Hillsboro to provide free online art lessons for children, consider making a donation.
