36. Read Your Favorite Book From Childhood

Remember the magic of reading as a child? Remember how you felt when you first opened In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, or A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle? How about Harriet the Spy, or even Harry Potter? Why not take an afternoon and crack open one of these books and reconnect with your childhood imagination?

Don't recollect any books from your childhood? Try one of these:

• The Golden Compass (book 1 from His Dark Materials Trilogy) By Philip Pullman
  
• The Lord of the Rings Series By J.R.R. Tokien
  
• Island of the Blue Dolphins By Scott O'Dell
  
• Where the Sidewalk Ends By Shel Silverstein
  
• The Boxcar Children By Gertrude Chandler Warner
  
• Where The Wild Things Are By Maurice Sendak
  
• Dominic By William Steig
  
• Yertle the Turtle By Dr. Seuss
  
• Frog and Toad By Arnold Lobel
  

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34. Random Acts of Art

Create random, temporary art works wherever you go:

• While walking along the beach or in the woods, collect stones & pile them in interesting patterns
  
• Collect pretty colored leaves and create a patterned leaf blanket on the grass
  
• make quick sketches of something (a tree, a building, a sign, etc), and tape or tack the sketch to the object
  
• make and stack snowballs in various patterns throughout a field, or along the sidewalks
  
• hang ornaments from trees, etc.

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33. Find your favorite toy from childhood and play with it

Whether it was with hot wheels, pez, wheel-o's, erector sets, leggos, etc. there was a time we all played & played quite seriously. Why not find that favored toy and recreate the seriousness with which you used to play?

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32. Make Snow Angels

If you live somewhere that gets snow - the next time you get the wintry white stuff, bundle up, go outside & make some snow angels.

While you're at it, build a snow creature or an igloo, and have a snow ball fight with your friends, or the neighborhood kids.

If you don't live somewhere that is graced by snow, you can always take the Andy Goldsworthy route & make Rain Prints. The next time it looks like it's gonna' rain - go outside and lay on the ground for a few minutes while it drizzles. You'll get wet, the ground around you will get wet - but underneath you will stay dry. Stand up & for a few seconds, you'll have a Rain Print of your silhouette. (c'mon, it won't hurt ya', it's just a little rain).

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31. Meditate

Find a nice quiet, comfortable place to sit, and meditate for 10, 20, or 30 minutes.

Having a hard time Meditating? Some tips...

• Find a quiet place free from distraction
  
• Sit with your limbs uncrossed and with a straight back, hands in your lap
  
• Simply breathe at regular speed but breathe deeply and relax
  
• Take a simple phrase and repeat it continuously in time with your breathing
  
• Close your eyes and think of a beautiful scene from the natural world

30. Visit a Museum

Visit an art gallery or Museum. Take your sketchbook or journal and write about or draw what you see/like.

29. Become a Super Hero for a Day

Instead of using the term "hat" to describe your different roles, why not don a cape? Think of each role as a different super hero. There's nothing wrong with using that "Super Mom" or "Super Dad" title - so long as you have your super hero outfit on.

Need help visualizing yourself as a super hero?

Try printing out these magnets from HP.com - complete with photo frames, Ka-Plow! graphics, text, & speach bubbles - you can let your friends and family know which super hero you are today. (all you need are a few sheets of Magnet-paper, available at Office Depot-Max-Staples... an inkjet printer, & some scissors)

Evil-doers Beware!

28. A Symbol of Your Creative Desire

Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create

This can be anything! A book, a journal, a tea cup, a pen, a notecard with an image you really like on it, a toy, a spatula... anything, as long as it infuses you with that same joy & energy you felt as a child.

Use it Everyday!

27. Play

Make a list of your 5 favorite childhood activities and do one.

Your list might include:

jumping rope
blowing bubles
playing kick the can
building a fort out of boxes or blankets
eating icecream
playing cops and robbers (or spies)
etc

26. Make Chalkboard Art

Image by Jennifer Scott McLaughlin

Either buy or make your own Chalkboard, hang it like a piece of artwork & each week create a new drawing or doodle to display.

25. Mandala Coloring Pages

Download, print, and color any of the following Mandala Coloring pages:

• Bird
  
• Bee
  
• Sun | Flower
  
• Sun | Pinwheel
  
• Sun
  
• Dragon
  
• Aztec Sun
  
• Celtic Star
  
• Geometric Snowflake

Resource: Marc Bove

24. Artist's Date

From Julia Cameron's lips to your imagination, treat your inner artist to a weekly date. This can be a walk in the park, an hour of creative time, a trip to the movies, hardware store, or thrift store. Anything that treats that inner artist.

Other ideas for artist dates:

• go for a bike ride; include the steep hill you loved to fly down as a child
  
• go to the circus
  
• go to a large bookstore and use it as your own, personal, book museum; gather arm-loads of books and browse soaking up all the image.
  
• take a walk during your lunch break and really notice everything around you
  
• listen to your favorite music while sipping on a cup of hot cocoa or cappucino
  
• take a long soak in a hot bathtub
  
• browse a craft gallery -- the stores that sell what other crafters/artists make
  
• fly a kite
  
• make a snow creature
  
• take a walk while it is snowing and listen for the gentle sound of the flakes coming to rest, make a snow angel before you go inside for a rest by the fireplace or a mug of cocoa or soup
  
• color in a coloring book
  
• watch a Pooh video
  
• read aloud several children's books to yourself; have fun creating different voices for the different characters or adding expression to your reading
  
• watch the sun rise or set
  Resource: Artist's Dates

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23. Words of Wisdom

Photo by risiblelady.

Anonymously write words of wisdom on the sidewalk with chalk

22. Find an Old Photograph

Photo by pgirolami.

Find an old photograph, describe the image to someone who can’t see the picture. Create a story about the objects, people, or events in the photograph

21. Draw on your Shower walls!

Some of my best ideas come when I'm in the shower & more often than not I wish I had something with which to record the thoughts. Now, a mini tape recorder in the bath or shower is probably not the best idea, and paper tends to get soggy. Then it hit me, why not buy a set of soap-crayons & draw on the shower walls?

It washes off, and is so much fun!

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20. Marvelous list

Look up the word Marvel (or Marvelous) in the dictionary. Find as many synonyms for it as you can, then write each of those words in a new & marvelous way, making a marvelous list.

19. Dictionary Haikus

by Magister Spencer Boegeman.

If you're a word geek like me, you usually have a dictionary handy, so that whenever you come across a word with a curious tone to it, you can flip open your dicationary & look up, not only its meaning, but its etymological roots.

Why not try this:

Randomly flip open your dictionary & point to a word (or just choose a word on the page that you are drawn to)
Write the word down, and its definition or etymological root.
Keep doing this until you have enough words to inspire a Haiku.

General rules for Haiku:

• 3-short lines
  
• 1-season word (any word that might allude to the time of year)
  
• 1-cutting word
  
• no rhyme or metaphor
  
• (17 syllables, usually 5-7-5, although in the English language this is less stringent)

If you're unsure as to How to write a Haiku, check out Haiku for People.


Examples:

One day of early spring
A snowman melts
I drink it
- Kenjiro HIgashi

After the storm
A boy wiping the sky
From the tables
- Darko Plazanin

18. Free Associate

Here's a great exercise from Luna Niña

Ten words to which you can respond, writing the first thing that comes to mind:

1. Teacher ::


2. Fifty ::


3. Crossword ::


4. Stuffed ::


5. Family ::


6. Purr ::


7. Toad ::


8. Cocktail ::


9. Insecurity ::


10. Magical ::

There are no rules. There are no right or wrong answers. Don't limit yourself to one word responses; just say everything that pops into your head.

If you like this exercise, head over to Luna Niña's site, where there are daily Free Association lists posted.

17. Write a story

Write a story beginning with:

• As a child I….
  
• I remember….
  
• The last time I….
  
• Today I saw | heard | noticed….

16. Panoramic Photo Collage

Photo by CowGummy

Create a Panoramic Photo collage from 3x5 images:

Take pictures of your living room | office | kitchen | yard or whatever, by standing in one spot and turning around as you click (don’t forget to look up and down as you take your pictures). Develop or download the pictures & print them out. Collage the images by lining them up to make one big picture a la David Hockney.

15. Automatic Writing

Photo by Angie Geworsky & Richard Klassen.

For 15 minutes write everything that pops into your brain without editing, censoring, or worrying about spelling or grammar.

14. Record Your Day

Photo by AndrewMorrell.

Take a small tape recorder or digital recorder with you & record the sounds you encounter in your day. Come home and make a written or pictorial transcript of the recording.

13. Picasso Portrait

Picasso Portrait: Look in the mirror and draw a self-portrait without looking at your paper, and without lifting your pencil from the paper’s surface. This is actually called a "blind contour" drawing.

Try doing this each morning. Or, if you're not into drawing yourself, draw someone or something else. Not only does this hone hand-eye coordination, but it helps your observation skills as well.

12. Create a Wish Bulletin Board

Image by Hugh Janus.

Create a wish bulletin board

illustrate your wishes and pin them to the bulletin board. Hang the bulletin board somewhere where you see it every day.

11. Make a paper Animal Menagerie

Photo by Himanshu (Mumbai, India).

Using origami techniques, make a folded paper animal menagerie and hang them from your ceiling. Write a wish, hope, dream, or goal on the center of each piece of paper before you start folding and once finished display them in an artful way by piercing a hole and stringing them at different lengths from the ceiling above your favorite chair or your bed.

10. Be a Gourmet Chef

Photo by conceptDawg.

Here's a chance to take off your many hats (Mom, Boss, Spouse, etc), and try on your very own Chef's hat (unless, of course, you are a Chef).

Why not treat yourself to a three or five course meal? - Just as fun as eating it, is preparing it. Immerse yourself in all of the aromas, colors, and tactility of the foods. Spend time with each ingredient: smell it, taste it, look at it (I mean really look at it, as if you've never seen one of those before in your life!)

Treat yourself to foods you've never tried. Ever wondered what the difference between a Papaya and a Mango is? What a cumquat tastes like? or an Ugly fruit? Well, this is your chance.

Leaf through your cooking magazines, cookbooks, check out Everyday Food, etc. for recipe ideas.

Once your menu is set, make a grocery list & shop for your ingredients with the same curiosity and adventurous style with which you are going to prepare them. This is one big, beautiful culinary adventure, savour every aspect of it! In fact, why not shop at the Farmer's Market, an Ethnic Market, or a grocery store you've not visited before?

And when it comes time to sit and eat the food, do it in a way you wouldn't ordinarily:

• put out your best china (if you have it), light some candles...
  
• eat Anrea Zittel style: use only bowls (no plates)
  
• eat everything with your fingers
  
• use chopsticks instead of silverware
  -you get the idea

9. Illustrate a Dream

Illustrate the dream you had last night.

Most of us dream in incoherent images that make perfect sense at the time of the dreaming, but when we wake up we're left with a jumbled or perplexing set of images/events/feelings. Why not sit down and start drawing bits of images or events that you remember from your dreams?

Can't remember images? then draw feelings - was it a scary dream? what colors do you associate with that? What colors do you remember from your dream? Instead of images, make a page full of dream colors. label them with the associated feelings.

8. Listening Meditation

Be still. Be silent. Listen to every sound around you for 5 minutes. Try to write down each of the sounds, describing exactly what you heard.

You can do this in your living room, a meadow, a park, in the middle of a mall, a bookstore, coffee shop - wherever you feel drawn. Take your journal or sketchbook, find a comfortable, out of the way, place to sit and begin listening. If it helps, close your eyes. Do not focus on one particular conversation or sound, but allow your attention to float to all of the sounds around you.

After several (or 5) minutes, begin to write about the experience. Try to recall how certain sounds made you feel. Did anything strike your funny bone? Did you hear different conversations juxtaposing? were any of the sounds jarring? soothing? etc.

7. Illustrate a quote or Poem

Find a poem or quote that you like, write it in your journal, then illustrate it, color it in, doodle around it... make it visually pleasing to you.

6. Draw The Events of Your Day

In no particular order, draw the events of your day:

• When did you wake up?
  
• what did you eat for breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Snack?
  
• what did you wear?
  
• Did you run any errands? take the dog for a walk? lounge in the sun with the cat?
  
• Did your Spouse | Significant Other | Roommate | Brother | Parents say or do anything that affected your day?
  
• Did you watch TV? Go to a Movie? Etc.

5. Eating Meditation

Treat yourself to a bag of really good trail mix or granola, find a quiet, comfortable place to sit and relax. Close your eyes, put your hand in the bag of trail mix (or granola) and pull out one piece. Study it with your fingers (eyes still closed). Put it in your mouth, but don’t chew. Instead, roll the piece of food around your tongue, feel the texture, allow it to roll from the tip of your tongue to the middle and sides before you bite into it. Once you bite, chew slowly making note of every texture and taste. Try this several times with different pieces of trail mix. When you’re done, write about the experience.

4. Random | Chance Reading

Go to the Library or Bookstore, wander the rows until you see a book that catches your eye. Pull it out, randomly open to a page and read it.

If it doesn't interest you, move on to another book that catches your eye.

Or, for those less interested in the tactile, you can try a Random Text Generator

3. Be a Photographer

Take a camera with you wherever you go for an afternoon:

• Take pictures of the people you encounter (with their permission, of course). Develop or download the pictures, then write small vignettes about each person or encounter.
  
• Take close up pictures of various objects. Develop or download the pictures and make up a story to go with the object.
  
• Purposefully take blurry, off-center, or bad photographs (a la Uta Barth)- Develop or download + print the images, Frame them & have your own living room | gallery exhibit. Give each photograph an appropriate (or off-the-wall) title. Have an opening complete with food and beverages & invite friends and family.

2. Be a Thing Finder

Collect objects that you find on your walk, bring them home:

• Draw them
  
• Collage them into your journal
  
• write about them:
  
  • how did you found the "thing"?
    
  • What is the secret life of the thing found - where did it come from, how did it end up there...
  
  
• set up a mini-museum in which to display your best weekly finds [change it each week]
  
• Write descriptive tags for them & display them in your house somewhere
  
• Write descriptive or story tags for them, and leave them somewhere for someone else to find

1. Go For A Walk

...Or a jog. It may not seem related, but getting up and out of the house | office | studio and into the world helps those creative juices flow.

This can help in a number of ways:

1. It gets you out of an environment where you are feeling stifled
   
2. It puts you into the bigger world & in contact with idea-inspiring opportunities or situations
   
3. You get some exercise, which in turn can:
   
   • stimulate those brain cells
     Some studies show that there is a link between exercise, creativity, and cognitive skills. You can read more about it in Dr. Carole Wood-Grisham's Article or in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
     
   • put you in a better mood by letting those mood enhancing endorphins loose