Relax, Refresh, and Rejuvenate through the Arts!

Relax, Refresh, and Rejuvenate through the Arts! 

Ideas for home-based arts instruction provided by Elementary Arts Educators in Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts. More resources at AdvancingArtsLeadership.com 

During these unsettling times, parents can take charge of their time with their children. Remember
how fun pre-school was? Singing, drawing, dancing, playing pretend, and reading aloud? High level learning happens during those hours of play, and these activities continue to be beneficial for people of all ages.

Arts activities relax the body, refresh the mind, and help us connect to others. Arts activities are multi-sensory, minds-on, hands-on experiences that invite conversations and build relationships. Parents can invite their children to make art with them in a playful way and optimize the experience by breathing deeply, relaxing, and being fully present as their children engage.

When playing with children, listen to the children’s ideas, then reward their efforts with smiles and kindness. Working along-side them encourages their focus and concentration. Inspire them to improve their ability by enjoying quality works of art together. Listen to music, sing, talk about works of art, discuss movies, and books. Most of all, have fun and celebrate successes. Set the stage, turn up the music and dance! Here are some ideas for home-based arts instruction to get you started.

VISUAL ART 

DRAW!
Draw something from the 100 Sketchbook Prompts or 100 Silly Drawing Prompts every day. Add details such as texture, value/shading, and color. Feel free to use the back of your classwork to draw on, if you do not have other paper available.

LAND ART SCULPTURE
Take inspiration from Land Artists such as Andy Goldworthy, Robert Smithson, and Richard Long. Have your child look at images from these artists as inspiration for their own Land Art sculpture. If you do not have access to outdoor space such as a yard or wilderness area, you can have students use Legos, toys from their playroom, cardboard, or other materials to assemble their sculpture. Even food and veggies on their lunch plate!

MAKE SALT DOUGH
2 Cups all purpose Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Cup cold Water

Mix flour and salt together in a bowl. Slowly mix water, a few tablespoons at a time, into flour mixture until dough is smooth and easy to handle. Knead dough for 10 minutes and let rest for 20 minutes. Help your student do the measuring and mixing/kneading, talking about the texture and how it feels before and after adding the water.

After the ten minutes of kneading you can divide up the mixture into three portions and add a few drops of food coloring to be mixed into the clay. The primary colors of red, yellow, and blue are recommended.

Let it rest for 20 minutes. When the clay is ready, have children sculpt a creature or character from a story they are currently reading. Talk about the shapes that make up that creature, and the different parts/details. If you added color, they can mix parts of the clay together to create secondary colors.

After they are done the clay can be put into an airtight container for several days then disposed of. You can also leave the sculptures out to dry in the air or bake them in a 250 degree oven for about two hours (until hard and dry).

MUSIC

MUSICAL SCAVENGER HUNT
Look around your house and find the following sounds. An object you find may fit more than one of the items below. For example, a metal pot lid tapped with a wooden spoon is something you tap, it is metal, it can be loud, and it may be quiet.

Something you rattle or shake
Something you tap
Something you scrape
Something you blow in or across
Something metal
Something plastic
Something wood
Something that can make a loud sound
Something that can make a quiet sound
Something that makes a low sound
Something that makes a high sound
Something that makes a short sound
Something that makes a long sound

Arrange the items into three categories: metal, plastic, wood. Start over and arrange the items into four categories based on how you make each sound: shake, tap, scrape, blow. Can you change the sound of the object? Can you make it louder, quieter, higher, or lower? Arrange from low sounds to high sounds.

BIM BUM
Body percussion is making percussive musical sounds using only your body -- such as clapping your hands, patting your lap, or stamping your feet. Try this body percussion game song. It is first sung as an echo song, so you may want to watch and listen as each phrase is sung, then try the body percussion on the echo. The song might be easy to sing, but the body percussion gets tricky! Clap your hands on the word bim, snap your fingers on the word bum, and pat your lap on biddy.

Once you have mastered the body percussion, find household objects that will make three distinct sounds. Decide which “instrument” or object you want to play, then choose the one word on which you will play your instrument each time it is sung: bim, bum, or biddy. Have two other friends or family members play the other two instruments on the other words. Challenge: Can you sing the entire song but play your instrument only on the specific word? This might take some practice!

FAMILY FOLK SONGS
What country or part of the world does your family come from? Find it on a map or globe. Have a family member sing a song they know from that country or region, or find a folk song from that country or region. What is the history of the song? Why did people sing the song?If there is more than one song, which is your favorite? Why? Create actions or movements to go along with the song and perform them as you sing.

DRAMA

CHIN PUPPETS
Make a chin puppet! Sure, have some giggles making funny faces or lip syncing to a song, then go beyond. Create a character: give your chin puppet a name, a unique voice, a personality with likes and dislikes. Hold a conversation. Tell a story. Keep your chin up!



PLAY IT. . .BACKWARDS!
Make a list of events (or draw scenes) from a favorite story. The story could be the plot from a book, movie or event. Now. . . act it out: backwards! It’s harder than it sounds – and is a fun challenge. Good luck!

ZOO-DO!
Create a zoo of your own with stuffed animals, lego animals, toy animals or YOU as an animal! Make sure you give your critters a healthy habitat with plenty to do. What is your favorite exhibit? What might the animals be thinking when you look at them? What kinds of adventures might happen in a zoo? Make your own zoo today, do!

DANCE

FAMILY DANCE
Listen to different genres of music and think about what movements they inspire. Have fun dancing free style to any selection. Allow each child to choose their favorite and explain why. Try learning some of the movement of each family member. You could choose one movement from each family member and create a family dance. Begin and end with a family connecting shape using levels and all kinds of line and design to make your shapes interesting. See what creative things you can come up with and enjoy the experience of dancing together.

HAPPY DANCE
Watch “Happy Dance” on YouTube. Follow the dance moves in the video and make up moves of your own. Talk about what makes you happy, and reasons why you are happy right now. Read Do Your Happy Dance! Celebrate Wonderful You and have a discussion. Some points of discussion could be: The Peanuts characters persisting at school, in sports or other extracurricular activities, or at any life experience. Make connections to your own unique experiences and find reasons to celebrate and do a “Happy Dance!” Turn the music video back on and have a dance of celebrating wonderful YOU!

Other Resources for the Happy Dance

• Meghan Trainor - Better When I’m Dancin’ 
• Peanuts - Happy Dance 
• Snoopy Happy Dance 

GIRAFFES CAN’T DANCE
Read the book Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae (or watch the animated video or watch the Giraffes Can’t Dance (Silly Song). Have a discussion about feelings/emotions that Gerald and the other animals might be having. You can talk about how we feel when we fall and make mistakes, and how it feels when others make fun of us at those times. This can lead to a conversation about a growth mindset: a belief that our most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.

Create a dance together! Using the action words in the story provide an opportunity for your children to try leaping, prancing, skipping, swaying, swishing and twirling. Give them time to make their own dance. Sit together in a circle and have a “Jungle Dance” giving any who would wish to share the dance they created. After this you can take turns learning each other’s dances. (Jungle Dance Music)

Find more ideas for arts at home here.

Written by members of the BYU ARTS Partnership Leadership Team: Melissa Deletant (Visual Arts Educator), Cally Flox (Director of the BYU ARTS Partnership). Miriam Bowen (Dance Educator), Lisa Bean (Drama Educator), and Jennifer Purdy (Music Educator).

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