13 Creative Wellness Activities for Self-love and Exploration
Creators are naturally explorers always tinkering and pushing the preverbal envelope.
When you include art and creativity in your wellness list you create space to breathe, look within, and invite ideas. You are able to ask the ‘why’ and ‘what if’ questions. You become a scientist of self using creativity as the log for every hypothesis.
According to the American Public Health Association, engagement with artistic activities, either as an observer or a creator, can enhance a person’s mood, emotions, and other positive psychological states. Essentially, creativity is beneficial to your mental, emotional, and intellectual well-being.
Creating keeps things fun and fresh and has been called a “missing link in boosting well-being” by myamericannurse.com,
What’s more, these creative and mentally nourishing activities are a great way to practice holding space for yourself & your inner child.
🔖 Scroll to the bottom to get dibs on a supportive 14-day starter course using simple creative wellness practices for self-exploration.
ACTIVITY 1: affirmation waist beads
Reclaim your feminine with waist beads chock full of intention using color, shapes and words.
Pendants: Kuan Yin rhodonite pendant RJRockShop Etsy, Moon pendant Charm and Riddle Etsy, Wire palm tree Nancy’s Fancies, Millefiori glass, letter, seed beads and clasp from Fire Mountain Gems.
ACTIVITY 2: CREATE WITH FOUND OBJECTS
Make your mark with stones, flowers, leaves, branches, sea glass and more.
Approach this one like your kid would. Exploring is serious business and requires a lot of curiosity. 🧐🤪 (I’m only partially serious)
Mandalas, ovaries, compasses, or freeform are always a hit and the little ones are big fans of creating faces.
mandalas
faces
freeform
💡 Depending on the weather and location this activity can provide a great opportunity for grounding (connecting with the earth’s electrons by being barefoot outside).
ACTIVITY 3: Ho'Oponopono
Ho'Oponopono is a Hawaiian forgiveness practice to boost heart energy.
📷 Place your left hand on the center of your lower belly and your right hand on your heart (like shown) in this beautiful visual by the beautiful @mosaiceye.
Lay down. Inhale and exhale completely. Soften your eyes. Sink into your body.
Think of a person whom you care for but have experienced some sort of discord. See them vividly in their favorite place and make a connection like a rainbow from your heart to theirs. 🌈 <<How heartwarming is that?!?!>>
Feel them fully and say:
"I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you."
💡 Do this practice for as little as 10 mins.
My first time was a beautiful release and afterwards I felt the lightest I’d felt in a long while.
ACTIVITY 4: CREATING OR ORGANIZING YOUR WELLNESS NOOK
Creating a personal wellness space is a great way to physically and mentally hold space for yourself.
Do you have a special place where you hold space for yourself?
I created a mini-series with everything you need to know (the what, why, where, and how) about creating a wellness nook.
💡 Invite your inner child into the discussion about what items you should add or remove from your nook this season.
ACTIVITY 5: FLUID PAINTING
The nugget and I love fluid painting.
My favorite variation of this project is to add layers stylized either with stencils or freehand. Consider adding affirmations, quotes, special dates or symbols.
💡 If you want a deeper lesson on fluid painting check out these 5 projects.
Activity 6: Work on your Momma Map
This fun & insightful activity book will guide you through a seriously meta, step-by-step healing journey from the comfort of your couch. Perfect for completing around mom life.
If you’re like most moms you have something in you that you want birthed (other than your kid), but the mom juggle makes finding time to do the inner work and goal set near impossible.
Activity 7: Hiking
I’ve honestly never been “real” hiking before, like with gear, crossing rivers with stepping stones, and the whole nine yards. But I imagine that it is magical to be completely surrounded by nature.
If a full on hiking trip is not an option for you either, a few hours at the beach or even a stroll around the block will do in a pinch.
Deep breathes. Take in that good air, baby!
💡 Fun action step: Play a little game of eye-spy.
Activity 8: Acroyoga
From Wikipedia, “Acroyoga is a physical practice which combines yoga and acrobatics. Acroyoga includes many types of partner and group acrobatics in which at least someone is lifted. As such it also draws on traditions of circus arts, cheer-leading, and dance acro.”
Acroyoga is trending in several moms groups I frequent and I see why. It’s just so freaking fun to do this activity with your little. Obvis, momma you’re gonna be the partner doing all the lifts, but this is a great for building trust while sneaking an extra strength training workout in!
💡 Another yoga group that my 6 year old enjoys that is specifically for kids is Imagination Yoga.
Activity 9: Taking a pottery class
I lucked out in 2018 when I learned about a volunteer program that helps support several local charities by selling handmade ceramic bowls. My son and I got to feed our creative side, get a little messy, and spend some fun time together.
The clay wheel is no joke and reminds me of the alchemy in everyday situations. We all have the power to transform life from basic to better.
💡 If you are unable to attend a class with a pottery wheel, there are several ways to make ceramics without a wheel including pinch pots and coil pots. Other alternatives include creating using plaster of Paris or good ol’ play dough.
Activity 10: Fabric Dying
This is one of my favorite ideas shared by Rachel del Dosso of Thrive Art Therapy during Momma’s Wellness Summit this summer for her session on “Nurturing your inner child with your kid in tow”.
I personally was impressed by the vividness of the turmeric and felt rather ‘meh’ about the coffee results (shown below). Would love to experiment further with the avocado pit and try its skins as well next time. The water from the avocado was a beautiful rose-caramel color. 🧡
I didn’t experiment with adding salt, vinegar, or any kind of fixatives. The results are more of a stain than a dye. I hope that makes sense.
There is lot’s of room to play when it comes to fabric dying, I love that every dye job is so unique. ((And how delicious do the colors below sound?!?))
10 natural items that you can use to dye fabrics and the color results.
Lemon/Orange Peels - lemonade yellow
Ground Turmeric - golden yellows
Yellow Onion Skins - warm orange
Avocado skin & pits - millennial pink
Red Onion Skins - warm pink/orange
Beets - rich reddish pink-brown
Purple Cabbage - purples (and blue with baking soda!)
Coffee - warm brown shades
Black Tea - warm brown shades
Grass - greens
Like for real, so freakin’ cool and also a fun way to explore color with the littles.
🌟 this is for experimental, fun purposes only. I’m not sure about fixatives and the like. The color will fade with washing, from being in the sun, etc.
Activity 11: Inner child journaling session
Have fun with this.
One of the journal prompts that I LOVE to use to banish the blank page blues is, “In this moment, I am aware that...”. This simple prompt allows me to get everythaaaang out of my head and onto the paper, whether it’s about my job, my day, what’s blocking progress in current goals or new ideas and “aha!” moments.
A few other simple yet thought-provoking questions you can ask yourself are:
Who am I today? What am I feeling today? Do I enjoy this feeling?
What does being “authentically me” mean to me and what is one small way I can more towards being that person.
If I had the courage, I would…
When I am taking care of myself, I …
Activity 12: Affirmation Pennants
Definitely a good vibe project to try with the little one.
I try to avoid glitter at all costs (so pretty, but horrible for the environment) - however, this would be a project where I might make the exception!
💡 This affirmation pennant project can be created using construction paper and any number of mediums including markers, oil pastels, found objects (leaves, flowers, photos) with glue, and more.
Activity 13: Spend an evening Watching the Stars
SkyView Lite app
There is something almost magical about star gazing.
Pondering the vastness of the universe. Talk about putting everything in perspective.
Le sigh!
We may never fully comprehend what all this is for. But tonight, sit with your inner child under the stars and get off of auto-pilot. Enjoy this human experience.
💡 Use stargazing apps such as Night Sky, SkyView and Star Walk to identify stars and see constellations in augmented reality.
Give yourself space to explore and you will be happy with the results.