Starry Night/Snowy Night Art Project

Materials: white cardstock, a white crayon, water color trays.

Step 1:  Using the white crayon, have the youth draw swirls such as @ or        snowflakes from the middle of the paper to the top.

Step 2:    Using the purple and blue watercolors, have the youth paint                          the  entire page.

Step 3:     Using black construction paper have them cut out an outline

                  Of a city background.

Step 4:     Glue the background to the paper

Origami Fortune Teller

Remenber these? Instructions can be found here:
http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-fortune-teller.html
All you need is a piece of paper, pen/pencil/ or markers :)

DIY Pinwheels

Designing a Dream House: Drawing & Thinking about a "Safe Place"

Issues: Powerlessness, insecurity.

Purpose: To help children design their dream house.

Materials: Crayons or markers, large construction paper, rulers, pencils, and a sample house plan.

Procedure: Discuss the importance of dreams and the ability to think about our dreams whenever we want to. Give each child paper, markers, and other materials necessary to design their dream house. Encourage the children to draw plans of a dream house that they can visit whenever they need to. Younger children can describe the floor plan to you. You can draw the floor plan. They can fill in the details.

Suggestions: Talk about safe places and how everyone needs such a place. Ask them how a safe place would feel to them. Then have them look at their dream house. Is there a safe place for them there? How could they change their plan to include such a place?

Source: Making it Better: Activities for Children living in a Stressful World, Barbara Oehlberg, Redleaf Press, 1996