The Imagination Box
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The Travelling Horse who wants you to colour him!

28/1/2014

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Chinese New Year, The Year of the Horse 2014

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This art activity is free to download as a colouring sheet.

I love posting images on pinterest and watch them being downloaded around the globe.
This horse is now being coloured in, in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Russia, Paris, Ireland, Norway, USA, Canada and beyond.


Colouring in can be a very rewarding, relaxing and helpful activity for children (and grown ups too!)

Here are 10 benefits of the top off my head
1) quiet time after a long day
2) concentration skills
3) hand eye coordination
4) fine motor skills, pen holding, improve writing ability
5) explore colour, shape, design
6) experiment with colouring materials -  pastels, crayons, pens
7) sense of pride in accomplishment
8) frame or display your child's work - it builds self esteem
9) do it with them - quality time together
10) let them know from a young age that we all have the capacity to be creative

If you like this free idea, it would be great if you could hit the 'facebook like', 'twitter' or 'pinit button' below to help me spread the creative word.

Thanks and please visit The ImaginationBox again!

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'Modern Art' Horse, celebrating the year of the horse

21/1/2014

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Following the popularity of my 'Modern Art' Trees, Angels and Stars at Christmas, I've continued this 'hidden / abstract' theme for Chinese New Year and to celebrate the Year of the Horse. This has been coloured digitally in rich reds, ochres and monotones. 
On my downloads page, you'll find a black and white A4 free colouring sheet to print out. It takes quite a while to colour in, so this should keep children, age 4+ and adults occupied for a while. 
I am going to 'track the horse' on pinterest. The modern art tree was downloaded in over 25 countries. I'm really hoping this little horse will be as popular!
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Weave a  paper heart for Valentine's day

21/1/2014

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I found this activity a while back on the Activity Village website, where a great template and instructions are available.
Thread the hearts to make bunting, glue them onto blank cards or here, we used recycled squares of cardboard and string to decorate a tree at Wood School - they also look great hanging on a door handle - a great little gift for mum, grandma, a school friend, someone special....
I pre-cut the paper and children age 5 upwards managed to weave them together on their own.
Great for developing fine motor skills, concentration, exploring colour and shape.
You can experiment with all kinds of paper - coloured, textured, magazine cuttings, old nursery rhymes to create different effects.


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Scandinavian inspired heart prints - with pizza bases!

21/1/2014

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This Valentine's printing activity is simpler than you may think.
Make a 'print block' from a square of pizza base. Scratch your design into it - these indents won't print, this is how the pattern forms.
Paint the block with acrylic paint (aprons needed here as acrylic does permanently mark clothing)
Press down on paper and rub over the back of the print block.
You can wash and use the block as much as you want - great if you want to make several cards in one go, bunting or a piece of wall art.
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Kids and Handy Little Boxes - 10 observations

16/1/2014

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My favourite shop in Chorlton continues to be Quality Save! 
These cheap compartmental storage boxes have provided a good few entertainment sessions for my 6 and 4 year olds - housing buttons, marbles, sea glass and more.
I've been really interested watching them play.....

1. Meticulously sorting colours and shapes and sizes
2. Organising
3. Reorganising
4. Concentrating
5. Spending time quietly, thoughtfully, not talking much
6. Appearing relaxed
7. Not arguing with each other (as much)
8. Negotiating 'swaps'
9. Showing pride in their collections 
10. Learning a fun way of organising, saving me a job!



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egg box dragon

6/1/2014

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We loved the activity village eggbox dragon idea.
Ingredients - egg box body and eyes, card / paper wings, nose, felt tip eyes, felt tongue.
The hair is some northumberland sheeps' wool collected last summer and dyed with tumeric - I knew it would come in useful some day!
I'd say suitable for age 3 upwards with an adult helper.
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beyond the glitter.......horses and hearts

3/1/2014

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Happy New Year everyone! We'll be taking down the decorations tomorrow and looking for new creative ideas to do as a family, now that Christmas is over and schools will be starting back.
I think be looking at activities inspired by Chinese New Year, Jan 31, and Valentine's day, Feb 14  - Horses and Hearts.
I'll keep the blog updated and look out for more free downloads, have a great 2014 folks!
Here are a couple of ideas.......

Horses

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My lovely creative friend Adela set this project up for my children yesterday.
They decorated these beautiful horse cut outs - will moveable legs!
 Adela had been inspired by artist Ann Wood
Celebrate the year of the horse!

Hearts

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Wax resist is a simple and fun technique. I drew these hearts with a white wax crayon and then painted over them with water colours - an idea for a Valentine??
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    Diane Pagan, The Imagination Box
    Welcome!

    Welcome!

    Hello! I'm Diane Pagan from Manchester, UK.
    My ideas are road tested by my 11 and 9 year olds - or at workshops I run with all kinds of kids and adults in schools, hospitals and community settings :-)

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Favourite quote:
  “ The imagination needs moodling, long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering. ” 
Brenda Ueland

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about Diane Pagan

Diane Pagan uk

Hello! I live in Manchester, UK with my partner, and our two children. Luckily our house has a converted basement, where my art studio is packed full with art materials of all shapes and sizes!
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