Your daily creative prompts for the week are here.Â
This week sees international chocolate day on Tuesday, which is super exciting, Im sure you will all agree! There are definitely some chocolate cupcakes in my future, what about you? What is your favourite chocolate bake? My son is also a huge hot chocolate lover, so I think we will do a hot chocolate bar! Have you done this? Its great; you make hot chocolate, and set out bowls of goodies to go with it, such as marshmallows, chocolate flake sticks, smarties or MnMs, sprinkles, cream, etc…. Its a lovely feel good treat!Â
We are also going to explore Tanka poetry and making butterflies, have fun trying out different surfaces to paint on, and let’s read some poetry by the wonderful Georgia Douglas Johnson…. read on for more on each prompt! Have a great week, and don’t forget to share what you get up to 🙂Â
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1. Try Writing a Tanka Poem –Â A Tanka poem is similar to a Haiku in it’s nature, origins and structure. It is a Japanese style of poetry that usually focuses on nature or emotions, using descriptive and sometimes abstract language.Â
They are either written as 31 syllables making up 1 continuous line, but more often as 5 lines that follow the following syllabic structure – 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. (A Haiku is just 5,7,5, so a Tanka is almost an extension of a Haiku). There is no punctuation and they do not rhyme, and they are nearly always written in the first person.Â
So have a go, and share what you write…
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2. Make or Bake Something with Chocolate – Yep, today is International Chocolate Day, so I implore you to embrace this and make something utterly delicious with chocolate! Be it a spectacular cake, gooey brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate pudding, hot choclate, strawberries dipped in melted chocolate, chocolate soufflĂ©, fudge, ice cream, tart…. the options are just endless… Im off to eat a Twirl now, to carb my chocolate cravings! Haha! (not joking!)
3. Paint or Make Butterflies –Â Butterflies are at their most abundant at this time of year, so there is no better time to be inspired by their natural beauty to paint or make them… A super simple ideas is to try the folded paper paint trick – take a piece of paper and fold it in half and open it again, Â paint wings on one side, then fold the paper over to take a print. Open the paper and you have a beautiful symmetrical butterfly. No-one is too old for this! Its very satisfying…Â
You could also try freehand painting, or some of these ideas:
– Easy Paper Butterflies from Red Ted Art (also, check out this post for even more ideas!Â
– I love these newspaper butterfly garlands from The Guardian too!
– How about some life-size wings like these from Buggy and Buddy?
– Do a to scale nature sketch of your favourite butterflyÂ
– Create an entirely new butterfly – maybe it has every colour of the rainbow, maybe her wings are made from patterns and dots? Have lots of fun…Â
4. Read Poetry by Georgia Douglas Johnson – Â Here is one poem to get you started:Â
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Your WorldÂ
Your world is as big as you make it.
I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner,
My wings pressing close to my side.
With rapture, with power, with ease!
Check out The Poetry Foundation and Poets.org for more.Â
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5. Paint on a Different Surface –Â This is an often forgotten and really simple way of moving out of your comfort zone, whether you are a beginner or seasoned artist… Toss away your paper, put your canvases back and go and explore your home and garden to see what else you can find to paint on…Â
Some ideas:
- PebblesÂ
- BarkÂ
- Scrap woodÂ
- Old furnitureÂ
- Cardboard (especially corrugated)Â
- SlateÂ
- SticksÂ
- GlassÂ
- NewspaperÂ
- Old booksÂ
- BottlesÂ
See what happens when you are faced with a different texture and shape to work with. Does the paint feel different, does your subject matter change, does your style shift? You could write about it too…Â
For children, any exploration with paint is an adventure – follow their lead and let them have fun!Â
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Have a great week! Feel free to let us know what creative pursuits you have been exploring, and share any progress, processs or results with us. If you need any help, support or feedback we are always on hand to help!
Katherine xx
