art & creativity idea sticks

Before school starts back, or as it goes back, why not create these fun washi tape sitcks with ideas on the back to play, create and do once life is busier- it’ll give the kids something to do and keep it simple and stick to ideas you know you can let them do in the afternoons or on the weekends.  We decided to create suggestions for four different categories but you can change your categories or use only the ones of interest.

  • Art Ideas
  • Create Ideas
  • Game Ideas
  • Story Ideas

Here are some ideas and of course you can add your own based on the age of your kids, interests and what games, or supplies you have.

Art Ideas

Take Turns Drawing a Single line to create 1 drawing.  So each person takes a turn drawing a line and when they are done, the next person has to continue the drawing with a new line.  Lines can be curved or straight.

Mix Media Art–  Use more than 1 material to make art- you could use magazine cutouts, glue and markers or crayons, paper and paint, or found objects.

Color Challenge–  Create art using all one color family (ex.  all different shades of blue), or only use pastels, or make a picture using all the colors like a rainbow.

Little Dots or Dashes-  make a photo using dots of color, called stippling or cut small pieces of colored paper or magazine pages and glue the small pieces to create a design.

Game Ideas:

Create a Few Minute to Win It style games (there are hundreds of ideas).  For example use a straw to move marshmallows from one bowl to another and see how many you can move in a minute.

Simple Card Games

War Card Game- this is a two player, fast paced game.  Here is the basic concept- Each player turns up a card at the same time and the player with the higher card takes both cards and puts them, face down, on the bottom of his stack. If the cards are the same rank, it is War. Each player turns up one card face down and one card face up. The player with the higher cards takes both piles (six cards).

Speed– is a two player, fast paced card game as well.  Here are directions on how to play.  Our kids love playing this game with us and it only takes a few minutes for round and then we switch who plays.  Here are directions- click here.

Dinner Time Games;

20 Questions-  Play 20 Questions Animal or Thing – So someone takes a turn thinking of an animal and then others ask question such as does it have 4 legs, does it live on land, does it have a tail, is it smaller than ….

Creativity Ideas

Build a Structure–  Give your child a few items to build things with- it can be old toilet paper tubes and straws, or pretzels and mini marshmallows, or large Popsicle sticks and tape.  Or playing cards (these are harder so best for older kids).

Create a Kinetic Reaction (Dominoes Effect)-  if you have large popsicle sticks they can create a pattern with the sticks overlapping and when you let it go it creates a kinetic reaction-  look up Exploding Popsicle sticks video online.  You could also use dominoes or similar items and set them up in a pattern.

Creativity Challenge – Make Something or Play What Else Could it Be

Find household items and make something out of it (could use tape, stapler, glue, string with the items) or put an object on the table (ex. tape dispenser or cup) and every says what else you could use it for besides its original use.


Buy 6 blank dice and draw small images on them Or take regular dice and put small graphic stickers on them (or order Story Cubes) and let your kids start telling a tale with the images they roll on the dice.  Then the next person continues the story.  This game encourages many things from thinking creatively, to working together and being flexible as the story will keep changing.  Another option would be to draw out 20 or so small line graphics and cut them up and put them in a bowl and each person pulls an image out to tell their part of the story.

Written Word

Have your kids read a poem aloud, or sing a song, or write a short story about a fun topic.


Remember the idea here is to have ideas you can point to when they need a break from school work, or the business of life- this give you and your kids an easy way to think of something to do that you have the game, materials or might enjoy.   You can make your sticks anything that fits your child’s age, interest and you think would be fun, simple and do-able.   For instance, we have lots of board, dice, card games and we often pull out Connect 4 because just about anyone can play it- so we have one stick to grab a game we already have and spend 5-15 minutes playing it together- but this reminds us that even though we are busy making dinner, and cleaning up it’s more important to spend a few minutes playing, and interacting with our kids.






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