Ideas: Support the Arts
Art and art activities, whether they be in the form of painting, quilting, or music, can bring joy and comfort into the lives of everyone involved. Click here for more information about supporting the arts.
Arts Ideas (Divided into different categories!)
Visual Arts
Photography
Drama and Speech
Write
Dance
Music
Crochet/Knit/Sew
Cook
Other
From Trash to Treasure - Fun ideas for creating usable items out of recycled materials
- Teach arts and crafts projects to children
- Teach children to make origami and make decorations to brighten the days of people who are sick or in need of some cheering up
- Donate art supplies to a child care center that serves low-income and/or homeless children
- Make decorations for a dance or other special occasion, such as a birthday or holiday party
- Collect materials that can be reused into great arts and craft projects
- Make gifts and objects to give away and/or donate all necessary materials and teach children how to make fun projects
- Make vases and tissue paper or silk flowers for people staying in hospice care (or in the hospital)
- Decorate lunch bags for sack lunches for people who are homeless
- Make decorations to brighten up the room for people in nursing homes (could deliver different projects every month)
- Arrange and give flowers to women living in a shelter for Mother’s Day
- Paint pictures of nature to donate to an environmental auction
- Paint a mural on a public building, wall, or fence (obviously obtain permission first!)
- Paint over graffiti
- Paint old houses (exterior and/or interior)
- Paint craft projects with residents in a nursing home
- Make cards with low-income kids
- Make Valentine’s Day cards for veterans and nursing homes
- Organize a sidewalk chart art contest for neighborhood kids in low-income areas
- Wrap presents out of fun recyclable materials (like the comics or fun ads)
- Make “pioneer” crafts with children in an after-school program (such as corn husk dolls, rag rugs, and simple woven baskets) and learn about the history behind them
- Make international crafts and learn about the different countries and cultures
- Finger paint with preschool children in a shelter
- Make “stress balls” for a health clinic or for new mothers
- Teach a photography class
- Make a video tape or photo collage of your family for a family member or friend who is far away
- Make a scrapbook to preserve memories
- Help the elderly organize and label photographs
- Make copies of photos for friends and family members
- Arrange and/or pay for low-income families to have family portraits taken
- Perform a play teaching children about safety issues (or other important lessons)
- Perform speeches to family members about changes you would like to see in the world
- Perform a play at a nursing home
- Read poems aloud
- Put together a play with neighborhood kids in an inner-city area
- Make skit-in-a-bag videos with kids including creative costumes and props
- Write and perform a creative skit with youth at an after school program
- Help to paint and build sets (for community, school, and/or neighborhood plays)
- Collect props for events and shows
- Donate vintage clothing to a children’s theater
- Usher at a community theater
- Write your family’s goals for volunteer projects you want to accomplish, and begin doing them!
- Write letters for people who are living apart from their family
- Record stories and write personal histories for senior citizens
- Research and write reports about topics that you are passionate about
- Write letters to your local governmental leaders about specific laws that you would like to see changed
- Write reviews of good books that you have read to share with libraries, friends, and family members
- Write poems reflecting your passion about specific volunteer experiences
- Write reflections of your family’s favorite volunteer experiences and share them to inspire other families to get involved
- Write a play that educates people about environmental (or other social) issues
- Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper
- Write newsletter articles about family volunteering (or other constructive activities) for your school or other newsletter
- Help younger children write, illustrate, and “publish” their own books
- Teach inner-city youth fun group dances such as a cotillion, the Virginia reel, square dancing
- Hold a “senior prom” at a nursing home
- Teach beginning ballroom dance classes for a senior citizen’s “prom”
- Hold a marathon dance fundraiser for your favorite organization
- Bring a friend with disabilities with your family to enjoy a dance concert or ballet recital
- Teach interpretive dance
- Choreograph dance routines at an after-school program
- Sponsor a dance class for children in the community or pay for a promising child to receive free lessons (who does not have the finances)
- Form a “barbershop quartet” (or trio or quintet, etc.) and perform singing Valentine’s and birthday greetings
- Present a concert or musical program for elderly in a nursing home or for people with developmental disabilities
- Have a family and neighborhood sing-a-long to build community (could share favorite camp, traditional, holiday songs)
- Host singing time for residents in a nursing home or hospital – bring the words to oldies songs they enjoy so they can sing along
- Teach a child free piano (or other music) lessons who is interested in learning but cannot afford it
- Pay for a talented child’s piano lessons who cannot afford them
- Enjoy a fun karaoke/lip sync evening with family and special friends who have developmental disabilities
- Invite an elderly neighbor to a concert with your family
- Play the guitar and sing and visit people who don’t receive many visitors
- Write and sing a catchy song to teach children good manners
- Sing carols at the holidays
- Have musical events that residents and children can participate in (bring instruments so people can “play” along with your performance)
- Hold a talent show for children at an after-school program
- Organize and help with a musical benefit performance where the proceeds will help an organization
- Play in a community band or marching band
- Organize a neighborhood band (if you don’t already have one)
- Play in a community orchestra
- Sing in a community choir
- Perform in a worship service together
- Donate instruments for programs to help youth
- Donate money for music
- Crochet bandages to be sent to people who live in a lepers’ colony
- Knit or crochet blankets for new babies
- Sew a faith quilt or heritage quilt that tells pieces of your family story or history
- Have a quilting bee to make quilts for natural disaster victims (for example, after tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc)
- Make hot pads, mitts, and aprons for organizations that cook a lot and serve food to disadvantaged families and people who are hungry
- Sew costumes for a play or musical put on by children
- Sew pillows for children in the hospital
- Make costumes for a dress-up box for a low-income day care center
- Crochet hats for children who have cancer
- Sew lap blankets for people living in hospice care or a nursing home
- Sew a memory blanket from your old clothing that is too worn to give away
- Crochet a welcome mat for new homeowners (another great use for old clothing – you can cut it into strips and tie it together as your “yarn!”)
- Teach children how to mend and alter clothing and help people with their sewing piles (for example sewing on a button, fixing a hem, etc.)
- Crochet or knit mittens, scarves, and hats for people in need of winter clothing
- Teach children to make caps for babies in neonatal care
- Sew and prepare activity kits for children to do in hospitals (can include books, crayons, paper, and other activities)
- Decorate cookies and give them to firefighters
- Give cookies and decorations (and a few samples!) so people in a nursing home or homeless shelter can have fun decorating cookies (for example, for Halloween make pumpkin sugar cookies, orange frosting and candy decorations)
- Make gingerbread houses or holiday cookies
- Make Valentine’s Day cookies to deliver
- Decorate cakes to bring to a homeless shelter or to bring someone for a surprise birthday present
- Teach children how to make fun, creative, healthy snacks
- Help set up displays at a museum or special event
- Share information with other families about displays
- Donate money to help children in need be able to attend arts and/or cultural events
- Donate, organize, or help with a fundraiser to support arts activities in your community
- Volunteer to help out at a community art fair
- Organize or help with a school art night
- Talk to your neighbors about recycling and other things the both of you can do for the environment together.
- At school, help a classroom or grade start a school graden and have families “adopt” parts of the garden. Garden adopters plant whatever they want types of plants/flowers during the summer.
From Trash to Treasures – Creative Recycled Craft Activities
Reuse the resources you have! Reusing one product you are about to dispose of into another product you can use is great for the environment! Make art or other crafts and toys out of materials you would have regularly thrown away or recycled.
Notice that some of these great craft ideas can also be used in combination with other volunteering opportunities to help children or people who are elderly, sick, or have disabilities.
Here are a few ideas to get you started – you’ll come up with even more as you Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse!
- Egg cartons can be made into beautiful picture frames (you could make these with children in a preschool)
- Cardboard can be reused to make a post office or scenery for a play (use this for your play for people with developmental disabilities!)
- Make sock puppets and a small puppet theater out of reused cardboard. Put on a puppet show for children at a preschool. Teach them about caring for the environment and share what you have learned! Or put on a show for children with developmental disabilities.
- Empty toilet paper rolls can be used to make toys for animals – especially rabbits enjoy them with a little hay and raisins inside.
- Make a rocket from empty toilet paper rolls and other materials and teach the scientific principles to children.
- Clean washcloths can be re-folded and shaped into boo boo bunnies and donated to local clinics or schools for when kids get hurt.
- The empty green plastic strawberry containers are perfect for surprising a neighbor, friend or your adopted grandparent. Simply decorate, add a couple flowers or goodies, and deliver – by surprise – on May Day or any other day!
- Make piñatas and papier mache items out of reused newspaper and hold a party (think about using your fun recycled decorations and holding a party for elderly in a group home or patients who have Alzheimer’s).
- Save plastic pudding or yogurt containers and paint them (they can make bugs with googly eyes) or make fun stacking toys for families with young children.
- Use an old milk carton or plastic bottle and make a bird feeder! Just cut a hole, decorate it, add seeds, and hang it up. Birds will love it.
Recycled craft books – fun ideas for a variety of ages
You may also want to check out some of the following books at your local library or bookstore for even more great craft ideas that you can use as you are volunteering together as a family!
Eco-Arts & Craftsby Stuart A. Kallen.
Edina, MN : Abdo & Daughters, 1993.
A collection of craft projects which use art supplies made from recycled materials and things found around the house.
Cups & Cans & Paper Plate Fans : Craft projects from recycled materials by Phyllis Fiarotta & Noel Fiarotta.
New York : Sterling Pub., 1992.
Gives step-by-step instructions for making a variety of craft projects from such recyclable items as paper bags, boxes, cans, dairy containers, and jars.
Crafts from Junk by Violaine Lamerand.
Mankato, MN: Bridgestone Books, 2003.
Book includes creative ideas for at least 13 fun crafts that can be made from every day materials.
http://www.capstone-press.com
Creating by Recycling by Anna Llimós and Laia Sadurní.
Woodbridge, CT: Blackbirch Press, 2000.
Provides instructions for a variety of craft projects using such recycled items as foam trays, empty soda cans, cardboard tubes, plastic bottles, and pieces of cloth.
Recycled Crafts Box: Sock puppets, cardboard castles, bottle bugs & 37 more earth-friendly projects & activities you can create by Laura C. Martin.
North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2003.
Discusses recycling and provides information and instructions for making art projects from a variety of recycled materials.
http://www.storeybooks.com
For even more books, visit our book list for families!