Post it notes work great for making grid type art. You could work together on one large display – or let everyone design their own using graph paper – and have a series of smaller installations.
12 Most Interactive Art Therapy Group Activities For Adults
Art therapy is “a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media.” There are a few different forms of art therapy, but, overall, it works as a form of psychotherapy to encourage creative expression while promoting healing and wellbeing.
For many, creative therapies — which also include dance, music, or writing therapy — can help those suffering from mental health issues to express themselves without having to talk or use words. This covers a wide range of both mental and physical illnesses by helping to provide focus and even hope for the future.
The great thing about art therapy is that it can be facilitated in person, remotely, on a one-to-one basis, or in a group environment. This makes it flexible for those leading art workshops and easy for participants to access therapy.
With that in mind, let’s explore some art therapy group activities for adults.
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What happens in art therapy?
The specifics of each session are shaped by the various activities for art therapy that can be used. Generally speaking, the aim of a session is to help participants explore their emotions by giving them an outlet for self-expression. This can boost self-esteem and positivity, which can help to heal.
Art therapy doesn’t require any art skills or training for the participants. For those who run it, they generally need to have a master’s degree with 120 hours of supervised practice and 600 further hours of supervised art therapy internship.
The general structure of a one-to-one art therapy session includes:
- A client assessment
- Art making
- Post-art making
- Conclusion.
Group sessions can be held less formally, with a group assessment to start with, and then art-making to follow. However, it’s important to take into account the needs of each individual. Instead of asking them all to draw something similar with one art medium, try coming up with a theme or prompt and giving them the freedom to choose which medium they’d like to use.
We hope the following 12 interactive art therapy group activities for adults will give you a source of inspiration…
Art therapy techniques and exercises for adults
If you’re ready to start facilitating group sessions as an art therapist, the following ideas should give you a good starting point. Remember that you don’t just have to use one — a range of techniques can complement each other.
Some of your clients may feel more comfortable building or creating using clay, yarn, or Lego. Others might prefer drawing using markers, an ink pen, crayons, or paints.
The ideas below are all fun, easy-to-do, and will also encourage conversations between the group.
| Activity | Notes |
| Drawing in the dark | Lights off! The leader of the workshop tells a story for 5-12 minutes, and the participants are encouraged to draw what they can see or hear as the story is told. Once it’s finished, give everyone the opportunity to share the final product with the group. |
| Draw with your non-dominant hand | Drawing with the other hand helps encourage the brain to work in a different way. This can help bring out new ideas, thoughts, and emotions. |
| Emotions color wheel | Create a blank wheel with 6-10 feelings. Encourage participants to fill in each wheel with the colors, shapes, ideas, and objects that describe what they experience when they feel each of the positive and negative emotions. |
| Create mandalas | This can be done individually, or as a group with assigned sections for each person. Create a large circle (with room on the outside) and encourage everyone to draw, paint or color in their mandala. |
| Build a gratitude tree | Using a jar to hold the sticks in place, encourage each participant to add ‘leaves’ to their gratitude tree. These could be cut from magazines, drawn, painted, or written onto leaf-like pieces of paper. |
| Write a story | Writing a story is a well-researched area of emotional expression, and the benefits have been proven time and time again to help explore emotion and feelings through self-reflection. This might take the form of handwriting or an internet blog. Start with a theme, word, or phrase, and let the stories begin… |
| Carve soap | Starting with a piece of plain soap, allow your participants to carve into the piece to cut shapes or to craft a mini ‘sculpture’ such as a flower. |
| Self-portraits | In their chosen medium and format, ask your group members to create a self-portrait. This can be drawn onto a canvas, a piece of cardboard, a mask, or even created as puppets. This may help support self-esteem and body image. |
Collaborative Paintings
Why not try painting a ‘master’ painting together?
The idea here is to choose a famous painting, print it and divide it into square grids. You can make quite large grids if there are not many participants – or allow for each person to paint more than one section. Cut out the grids into separate pieces.
Each child gets 1 grid image to copy – and a blank piece of paper or canvas. They then need to copy their individual image as best they can, scaling it up onto their canvas.
Chagall – I and the Village
When all the sections have been painted, then simple assemble the picture back as a whole. They may not all match up exactly – but that rustic feel usually still produces a beautiful painting.
With young children it may be easier for them if you produce sheets with the drawing already printed for them to color.
If you can find a black and white coloring page of your chosen artist’s painting, then you could use Blockposters to enlarge and print it. Or for a small charge, this site has lots of downloadable murals that would make this easy-peasy!
Earth Looms
Earth Looms make a wonderful outdoor group art project.
An Earth Loom is a large wooden loom made from natural resources. You could make this as large as you had space for – and invite people to weave sections with grasses and flowers – or yarn and fabric. They look beautiful in a garden and can be woven with different materials to show the passing of the seasons – a bit like my Seasons Tree Project.
You can find out more about them at EarthLoom.Org.
Mud Art Projects
Mud Art projects are messy but beautiful! Artist Kiko Denzer has overseen many group art murals made from mud and produced a wonderful book called Dig Your Hands in the Dirt.
Kiko kindly shared one of his projects with me, so now you can make your own natural clay art tile. Why not make several and combine them into a large artwork.
This would make an unusual and beautiful project for your group.
