List of Materials Needed:
​- Shoebox or small cardboard box
- Construction paper, colored paper, or cardstock
- Markers, crayons, colored pencils
- Glue, tape, or glue sticks
Scissors
- Small craft items (buttons, pom-poms, beads, fabric scraps, stickers, cotton balls, etc.)
- Optional: natural materials (twigs, leaves, sand)
- Mini figurines or toys (optional)
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Image from: Valerie Smith on Tilly Lane Treasures.
Instructions:
1. Explain the activity to the students. The inside of the box will be their safe, calming space, and the outside can represent challenges or things that trouble them. Prompt ideas: "What places, people, or things make you feel safe and calm?"
2. Ask them to decorate the interior with colors, textures, and mini items that represent their personal sanctuary. Ask them how each item makes them feel.
3. On the exterior of the box, ask them to illustrate or attach symbols of worries, fears, or challenges.
Prompt ideas: "What things outside of you sometimes make it hard to feel calm?"
4. Write a few sentences describing the inside and outside, or share with a partner/group what each part represents.
5. If the students are comfortable, have them guess each other's ideas and what the decorations might represent. This may help with students engaging in conversation.
Read more about:
Art therapy allows children to express complex emotions here.
Art therapy creates a safe space for students to express themselves here.
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