Happy Mother’s day! Today I wanted to share some fun family art activities to do together today. I love incorporating mindfulness into my art lessons in little and big ways. What better day to slow down and enjoy than a day to celebrate mom? Also, these are honestly fun for any age, even if you’re two adults and some animals!
Silly (Continuous Blind Contour Line) Portraits
This was always one of the very first drawing exercises I did with each of my high school drawing classes. Everyone grab a piece of paper and pencil, pen, or marker. Sit across the table from someone, and get your drawing device ready. You are going to set a timer for one entire minute. In that minute, you will draw a portrait of the person across from you, WITHOUT looking at your paper OR lifting your pencil! What? Megan, that will make a terrible drawing. Yes, yes it will. Terribly funny, you mean! You’ll be surprised how difficult it is to keep yourself from looking at your paper. When the timer is up, hold that baby up for the world to see! The best part about this is that there is no contest for accuracy because it is almost guaranteed everyone’s portraits will look like… well, you’ll see! 😉
Make it a mindfulness practice:
Use the minute to really study your persons face and slowly work your way around it with your pencil. Begin by drawing the shape of their head while following the lines with your eyes. Maybe moving to their hair, and notice it’s texture. What shape are their eyes? Almonds? Petals? Move onto the lines in their nose, and the curve of their smile. While you draw, think about what you love most about this person, and make sure to share it with them at the end!
Mixed-up Family Portrait
I actually had never done this before but I was trying to think of a fun way to get everyone excited for a family portrait, and this is what I thought of! 😂We laughed a LOT, which was the whole point, to have fun together. 🤗For this, you will be taking a family self-portrait using the timer function on your phone (or big camera, which you can learn to do here). You can set the phone up on your coffee table or counter and prop it up with a coaster and glass. The trick to this family portrait is that you will ask everyone to impersonate another family member! You can do this simply, by taking a normal portrait but asking everyone to make an expression like another family member, or, you can take it to the next level (like I made us do), and have people dress and pose like the person.
Make it a mindfulness practice:
Write a note to the person you impersonate afterwards. Tell them about your favorite mannerism of theirs, or think about a favorite thing they said to you recently. Write it down and tell them what you appreciate most about them.
If you do either of these activities with your family, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see them! Please share and tag me on Instagram @meganleighacosta or Facebook at Megan Leigh Acosta.
Looking for more fun?
Check out the following related posts for more creative ways to connect to your family!