Marker Chase
Making connections with our kids can be hard when we are working and they are home for the summer. It can be difficult to sync up our schedules for when kids and their caregivers need a little extra connection. This activity is designed to reconnect in small amounts of available time.
Materials needed: something to color with (Markers, colored pencils or crayons); drawing paper (in a pinch the inside of wrapping paper works great or a flattened paper bag—especially with crayons)
Each person completing the actvity chooses a color.
Give out these instructions to your child: “You can move your marker around the paper however you want. My job in this round is to follow right behind my marker, tracing your work.
Let your child (children) draw for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, switch roles. You can experiment by speeding up and slowing down the activity. If you have more than one child make it a family activity and go in rounds.
When you feel like your child is done—or the paper is filled up, :); discuss how well you both paid attention to each other.
Additional challenge, have your child think creatively to turn your squiggles into an abstract art piece with the rest of the markers/pencils/etc. Ask them to bring it to you when they are done and discuss all the details they have added to the picture.
Ask them to tell you a story about the images or colors they used in the picture. If they are having trouble with telling you simply notice different parts o the artwork together such as: “I see you used a lot of gree here.” Sometimes that can help prompt a discussion.” Have fun marker chasing!
This activity is adapted from Art Therapy for Kids, by Erica Curtis, LMFT