The Imagination Box
  • home
  • TPT STORE
  • Spring
    • Valentine's Day
    • Chinese New Year
    • St. Patrick's Day
    • Easter
    • Earth Day
    • Mother's day
  • Back to School
  • activities
    • Fall and Winter >
      • Halloween
      • Fall
      • Christmas
      • New Year
    • Summer >
      • The Art of Travel
      • fathers day
      • Canada Day
      • July 4th celebrations
      • Olympics Games 2016
      • The Queen's 90th Birthday
      • World Cup 2014
  • blog

A roll of tape and a biro....

30/6/2018

23 Comments

 
My kids love it when I stop - stop tidying, stop 'doing stuff'.

Putting some music on and getting the coloring pens out is a great family activity - a rare moment when you can all be round the table, tv off, chatting, doodling - and all doing the same thing together. 
My kids really remember these precious times - I see these times as little injections of self esteem - when they get our full attention, it helps them know how important they are - more important than the hoovering, the mobile phone......

Coloring books are so 'on trend' at the moment, and we all know the relaxing benefits of switching off for a while.
However, sometimes the simplest ideas are the best and we don't always need expensive art materials and coloring books to keep kids creatively occupied.

I grabbed a roll of tape and a biro and started playing........ 
I filled a couple of pages with circular patterns, using the tape as a stencil to draw round.
The doodles look great with oil pastels.....especially on coloured paper.

The process has been quite addictive - if you scroll down this blog post, you'll see some more examples, using lids, tiles - any simple-shaped household objects will do.
I've experimented on music paper, old stamp album paper, maps - all to be found in local charity shops - the older and more yellowing the better!

If you enjoy doodling and art making with your kids, have a look around my website, check out my free summer printables collection - from flipflops to lollipops, teepees to sneakers, blank postcards, journal covers, geckos and more.


If you like my ideas, have a browse around my ideas-packed Teachers Pay Teachers Store - lots of handy art packets for all year round fun in the classroom or at home
- hope to see you again!
​

Have a fun summer,
Diane
doodle with a roll of tape
draw round a roll of tape and doodle
draw round a roll of tape and doodle
draw round a roll of tape and doodle
draw round a roll of tape and doodle

A couple of weeks on, I'm still experimenting with doodling and drawing around basic shapes that I'm finding around the house - it's really relaxing!

Here are a few more simple ideas .... I'm thinking this would be a great rainy day holiday activity as such few materials are needed.

circle doodles on a music sheet
square doodles on a music sheet
circle doodles on an old stamp album page
Picture
Drawing around a butter lid
Picture
Another butter lid doodle
Picture
Using lined paper and a roll of tape.

27.7.15

Today I tore some pages out of my dad's old 70's yellowed, A-Z of London with the idea of doodling on maps.

Again, drawing round a roll of tape with a biro and then colouring in the circle.

They came out looking quite 'Mondrian'.

map doodles
map doodles of London
map doodles
map doodles of London
Picture
mondrian map doodles
map doodles of London
Picture
Picture
Roll of tape and biro on manuscript paper

7th August

My latest doodle has come from finding an old plastic lid - the shape reminded me of lemons and limes - I drew some overlapping shapes and experimented with pattern and colorblocking using felt tips, pastels and watercolours.

Picture
Picture
Picture

September's here and I'm thinking about Autumn / fall doodles, here's a manuscript maple leaf

Head over to my Autumn page for free printables and templates.

Picture
Maple leaf on manuscript paper
23 Comments

Tropical Summer Art

19/5/2016

0 Comments

 
We're celebrating sunny school holidays here with some fun tropical fruit art!
The diamond shapes on these pineapples are great for little hands to explore colour using all sorts of art materials - we used watercolours and oil pastels.
You can download a free pineapple template on my summer downloads page - you'll also find pears, lemons, watermelons.... Have fun!
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Download free templates here
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Are you looking for more creative project ideas for Summer?
You might like to visit these pages below or subscribe to my seasonal newsletter?
Thanks for dropping by, have a wonderful arty summer!
Diane :-)
​
Rio Olympics
Father's Day
Euro 2016
4th July
The Art of Travel
Queen's 90th
0 Comments

Squares and Circles

30/9/2015

1 Comment

 

I love the simplicity of working with squares and circles, repeating the same shape over and over again to produce a pattern.

Picture
Tissue paper squares on acrylic painted canvas
Picture
Repeat tree pattern (see my Christmas page for the template)
Picture
'Elmer' style tissue paper squares, sealed with pva glue for a flat finish
Picture
Oil pastel doodle squares, hand drawn
Picture
Pastel squares, embellished with stickers
Picture
Digital spiderwebs, changing the background colour (see my Halloween page)
Picture
Felt squares, amazing colours
Picture
Doodling on stickers, arranging them randomly
Picture
Tissue paper circles, sealed with pva for a flat finish
Picture
Felt tip doodle circles over tissue paper circles, playing with layers and transparency
Picture
more tissue paper circle experiments
Picture
Circles and stickers on felt, mixing circles and squares
Picture
Felt tip doodles on card circles
Picture
Spirograph circles, I spent hours doing this as a kid in the 70's :-)
Picture
Printing with pen lids

I hope you find these simple ideas inspiring!

Best wishes

Diane

1 Comment

Kids! Let's get inspired by 'The World goes Pop' this Fall/Autumn

7/9/2015

1 Comment

 
oak leaf prints
pop art autumn free templates
Yippee! 
We've just booked our first family day trip to London with our 6 and 8 year olds to visit  'The World Goes Pop' exhibition at the amazing Tate Modern.
I''ve always been attracted to the fun, bold shapes and bright colourful imagery of Pop Art, a movement which began back in the 1950's. 

I've been developing ideas for Autumn/Fall free printable worksheets with a 'Pop Art twist'.
They are designed to encourage kids to explore design, shape, colour and graphic design.
You can download these free printable worksheets on my Autumn page

There's a link below to the World Goes Pop UK Exhibtion - 

Tate Modern: The World Goes Pop
17 September 2015 – 24 January 2016
You might also like my 'hidden modern art' free printables, colourful challenging colouring activities for kids  - and adults too!

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Interpretations of an Oak Leaf - exploring collage and mixed media

1/9/2015

2 Comments

 

I love working creatively with groups - where each participant gets to create a unique piece of work, based on a specific theme which contributes to a larger collective finished artwork.

I've worked this way with kids and adults of all ages, in schools, hospitals, and community settings over the years. The outcome is always visually stimulating and appealing and often more rewarding for the group than if they had been working alone.

With the onset of Autumn, I thought I'd share this 'Oak Leaf' group project, produced as a commission several years ago at Arts for Recovery in the Community (I'll provide a link to this wonderful mental health organisation at the bottom of this post, well worth a visit)

Picture
Picture
Above, we used the idea of exploring a simple oak leaf, using all manner of materials, in a cd sized square - as you can see, the final piece of work was composed of 24 individual artworks.

Let's have a look at some in detail and the types of materials we used......
oak leaf print
simple leaf printing - paint the freshly picked leaf - acrylic works well - turn over and press down firmly on cartridge paper
Pictureoak leaf collage with stitch
we used a photocopied leaf print, cut out oak leaves from black and white paper, stitched the leaves onto handmade paper and added beads 

oak leaf collage
This collage uses corrugated cardboard as the base, with photocopied and stitched leaves and string to create several layers of imagery
oak leaf collage, stitching with copper wire
Torn paper leaves on brown parcel paper. The leaves are stitched with copper wire and finished with beads and outlined with wool
stencilling on magazine images
we cut an oak leaf stencil and worked over a page torn from an opulent interiors magazine
oak leaf collage with copper wire
this collage comprises metalic papers, embroidered chain stitch, copper wire, paper cut outs in an oak leaf shape
oak leaf collage with imagery and stitch
using a sepia ballerina image cut into an oak leaf shape, embellished with string and copper wire stitching on a black background
embroidered oak leaf
a beautiful oak leaf embroidery exploring the colours of Autumn / Fall
Matisse inspired oak leaf collage
Matisse inspired cut outs of oak leaves and acorns using textured papers
oak leaf collage with magazine image and stitch
a face, partially covered with silver metallic paper and stitch detail makes this piece quite delicate
Arc, Arts for Recovery in the Community commissioned me to facilitate this project.
I've been involved with them for over 10 years now. Take a look at their wonderful work.
Arc is Stockport’s specialist arts and health charitable organisation, harnessing the power of creativity with people to rebuild their self-confidence and fulfil their potential as healthy and resilient citizens.


I've been working on some new Autumn free printable worksheets, just click here to have a look.

If you like my ideas, why not sign up for my monthly newsletter for regular seasonal activities to your inbox?
2 Comments

Download doodles

31/7/2015

0 Comments

 
Doodling can be such fun for all age groups, from preschoolers, to teens, parents and grandparents.

I found a really useful website today, where you can print for free, all sorts of patterns and shapes to doodle in - manuscripts, graphs, hexagons, squares, circles, dots.


www.printablepaper.net

Why not print a pack of these free patterns, grab the felt tips and you have an easy travel pack for those much needed quiet moments or when they shout, 'I'm bored mum!'

Here are some ideas that I came up with, I'll be sharing them with kids later!

join the dots geo doodles for kids
Join the dots and get geometric
mark making in the squares
Filling one inch squares with marks and squiggles
pattern making doodles
Filling squares with pattern
If you like these quick ideas, have a read of another doodletastic blog post,
adventures with a roll of tape and a biro!

If you are a homeschooler or teacher looking for more detailed lesson plans and art lessons, why not visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store?
It's packed with fun, affordable, low prep art activities.
​
Picture
0 Comments

Kids and Handy Little Boxes - 10 observations

16/1/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
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!



0 Comments

Introducing Pixel People!

24/9/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I'll be blogging alot about 'squares' over the next week or so. It's important to remember not to try too hard coming up with ideas, sometimes the simplest ones can work the best!
Pixel people are a great project for children - invite them to do a self portrait! You can design and download graph paper online - for younger children, I recommend larger squares, older children can challenge themselves with more detail. Follow the link below for squared paper and more, a great resource for general doodling...have fun!http://incompetech.com/graphpaper

0 Comments
    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 :-)

    Archives

    December 2019
    July 2019
    June 2018
    January 2018
    June 2017
    January 2017
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    3d
    4th Of July
    Articles
    Autumn / Fall
    Back To School
    Chinese New Year
    Christmas
    Collage
    Collecting
    Colouring
    Doodles
    Easter
    Explore Colour
    Exploring Shapes
    Food Art For Kids
    Graphic Design
    Group Activities
    Halloween
    Independence Day
    Kids Travel
    Links
    Mosaic
    Olympic Games
    Olympics
    Outdoor Projects
    Painting
    Printing For Kids
    Stitch
    St Patrick's Day
    Travel
    Valentines Day
    World Cup 2014
    Year Of The Horse

    RSS Feed

The ImaginationBox

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

Copyright © 2018
The ImaginationBox
All Rights Reserved

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!
read more......

quick links

HOME
BLOG
FREE PRINTABLES
TPT STORE
TES STORE

Picture

Submit
Design by DivTag Templates