Medley’s Creative Ideas focus on a different theme each month and outline ways to engage with music, art and nature on that theme. There are ideas for songs or pieces of music to listen to, play or sing, for art or craft activities to try, and for ways to connect with nature.
Care homes mainly use the Creative Ideas – but hopefully they could help boost anyone’s mood or wellbeing. They might also specifically engage people who have dementia, or autism, or anxiety, or depression, or a disability.
Follow Medley on Facebook or Twitter and I will post or tweet a link to the latest themed ideas. Or find them here
GARDEN WILDLIFE WEEK 29 May-4 June 2023
Here are some new Creative Ideas for Garden Wildlife Week, which runs from 29 May to 4 June: suggestions of music and songs to listen to, a couple of art and craft ideas, and ways to connect with nature, all on this theme.
MUSIC
Search for these songs and pieces of music on You Tube and enjoy while creating some garden wildlife using the art and craft ideas!
*Love Is Like A Butterfly (Dolly Parton)
*Bring Me Sunshine (Morecambe & Wise)
*I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine (Elvis Presley)
*Feed The Birds (from Mary Poppins)
*Tit Willow (Gilbert & Sullivan)
*Antmusic (Adam & The Ants)
*In An English Country Garden (Percy Grainger)
ART & CRAFT
*Try making a simple garden wildlife-themed mobile. Here you’ll see my completed garden creatures, and below a blank outline for you to print out, colour and cut. If you are unable to print this page simply email me at medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will send you the blank as an attachment. There’s a bee, a ladybird, a dragonfly, a butterfly and a bird shape – you could do more than one of some of them to show different species, like different butterflies. Colour them on each side so that as they spin around they will still look colourful! You may want to stick them on to card. Make a small hole in each and tie thread through, and suspend from a circular wire to form a mobile, or from a door handle or window rail.
*Do some gardens-themed rock art, using pebbles or rocks – turn each pebble or rock into a garden creature, like a bee or wasp or ladybird or a mouse, with paint pens or acrylic paints. They look nice displayed indoors, or if you want to place them outdoors then add varnish.
NATURE
*Think of as many different kinds of garden bird as you can, them search for their different songs online. I like listening to recorded birdsong and comparing them. You might think of birds you see every day, or more unusual ones that occasionally come into gardens, like woodpeckers or owls.
*Enjoy the amazing variety of garden wildlife by looking for images online of all the different species of any one creature, like a bee – different types of bumble bees such as the buff-tailed, red-tailed and white-tailed! – or the moth – there are hundreds of species of day moths alone.
CORONATION FEVER May 2023
With preparations gathering pace for King Charles III’s Coronation in London on 6 May, here are some Creative Ideas to mark this historic occasion: suggestions of music and songs to listen to, a couple of art and craft ideas, and ways to connect with nature, all on a royal theme.
MUSIC
Search for these pieces of music and songs on You Tube and enjoy listening while you try the art ideas – or while you eat your Coronation quiche!
First, some music traditionally played during coronations –
- Zadok the Priest by Handel
- I Was Glad by Hubert Parry
- Orb & Sceptre by William Walton
And then some songs:
- Congratulations by Cliff Richard
- London Pride by Noel Coward
- Dancing Queen by ABBA
- Charlie is my darling (traditional)
- The Grand Ole Duke of York (folk song)
- Any songs from the musical The King & I
- Any songs by “the other King” – Elvis Presley
- The National Anthem
ART & CRAFT
*Draw or paint your own design of a commemorative plate or cup for the Coronation, like my design here. I’ve drawn two different types of crown – the one to either side is the King Edward Crown, with which the monarch is traditionally crowned. Then I’ve drawn flags and added the lettering “C III R” in the middle, which stands for Carolus Rex (King Charles) the Third. You could add other motifs like an orb and sceptre, the Gold Coach, or leaves and trees to show the King’s love of nature. You could paint or colour in the background of the plate too to make it more colourful.
*Look online for pictures of the Crown Jewels (in the Tower of London) and use these to craft your own crowns and jewels, using card or strong paper, gold paint, sequins and beads, or use gold fabric cut into the form of a crown and decorated.
NATURE
*Think about “kingfishers” – look online or in a book for pictures of them and enjoy their beautiful colours. Or what about “queen bees” – look for images of them too, and find out how they “rule” the other bees.
*Look online too for images of royal gardens and grounds, like King Charles’ garden at Highgrove, which he has developed over many years now, or Windsor Great Park. Look at the trees and other plants which grow there and think what havens for wildlife many of these places have become.
SPRINGTIME APRIL 2023
At last spring is here again, so here are some new Creative Ideas all about sunshine and springtime and flowers – suggestions of songs and music to listen to, two art & craft ideas with images, and a few nature ideas as well. Hope you will enjoy them.
MUSIC
Listen to these songs and pieces of music on You Tube:
*It Might As Well Be Spring (Ella Fitzgerald)
*Here Comes The Sun (The Beatles)
*A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
*The Cuckoo & The Nightingale (Handel)
*Down By The Salley Gardens (traditional)
*You Are My Sunshine (Elvis Presley)
*Anywhere You Go, Always Take The Weather With You
*April Showers (Frank Sinatra)
*When You Wore A Tulip (Judy Garland)
ART & CRAFT
*Here you will see my painting (in acrylics) of 6 different types of spring flowers – daffodils, tulips, crocus, muscari, pansies and speedwell. Try drawing or painting some yourself, or use the outline blank of my picture (below) as a colouring activity. You should be able to print the pictures out but if not then email me at medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will send them to you as attachments. You could tie a real ribbon into a bow and stick this on to your finished picture as a 3D embellishment too.
*Use fabric or wool and yarn to make decorative squares or panels celebrating spring. Cut a square out of felt or other material, maybe 15 cm square, then use scraps of colourful fabric or wool and yarn to form flowers and also white clouds and yellow sun for the sky. You could make this an applique activity by stitching the smaller cutouts onto the background square or panel.
NATURE
*Enjoy all the many shades of colour in nature at this time of year. In a garden or park, or looking through a window, or online or in books, see how many different shades of each colour you can see – even green leaves and grass come in all different shades if you look closely!
*Look online for videos and images of creatures we only see in spring and summer – like butterflies and moths or dragonflies on the wing, or migratory birds such as the swallow or the cuckoo. Listen to recorded nightingale song online too – it is beautiful and rare to hear in the wild now.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY March 2023
These latest Creative Ideas focus on International Women’s Day – with music and song suggestions, two art and craft ideas and nature suggestions too.
MUSIC
Where to start?! So many wonderful singers and songwriters! Here are just some to enjoy on You Tube:
*I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
*My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music
*Let The River Run by Carly Simon
*The great opera singer Maria Callas
*Jolene by Dolly Parton
*You’re The One That I Want by Olivia Newton John
*O Happy Day or A Rose Is Still A Rose by Aretha Franklin
*Bobby’s Girl by Susan Maughn
ART AND CRAFT
*I enjoy drawing clothing and costume from different eras, so here you’ll see my fashion drawings of four women from different years. Try drawing the figures yourself, or use the blank outline below as a colouring activity. Experiment with different colour combinations. Or add fabric embellishments too, like to the frills and sleeves of the 1790s dress.
*Make name pictures to celebrate famous women from history or from today. Write each woman’s name in colour pen or ink or paint, then decorate with borders or with motifs connected to the woman, like a crown for the late Queen, a book and a pen for Jane Austen or a space suit for Helen Sharman.
NATURE
Look online or in bird or animal books at female birds and animals. Compare the differences in plumage for the birds, like female chaffinches, blackbirds and ducks compared to the more colourful males. Or look at images of older female elephants which lead large herds, or female leopards raising cubs alone.
A CENTURY OF DISNEY February 2023
The magic and sparkle of Disney is a century old this year, so I thought I’d focus these new Creative Ideas on the entertainment phenomenon! Here are some music suggestions, art and craft activity ideas and ways to connect with nature, all on a Disney theme. I hope you will enjoy them.
MUSIC
Search for these on You Tube and enjoy listening. Sometimes I think these brilliant songs and music can be overshadowed by the action in the films, so for once concentrate on the music
*Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the Disney film of Mary Poppins
*Some Day My Prince Will Come and A Smile & A Song, from Snow White
*Belle from Beauty and The Beast
*Cruella de Vil from 1001 Dalmatians
*Little April Shower from Bambi
*The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book
*Under The Sea from The Little Mermaid
ART & CRAFT
In the main image here you’ll see the cutouts I’ve made of two classic Disney characters – Mickey Mouse and Snow White. Use the blank outlines below to make your own. (To print out the image – right click on it and select either “save as” or “Open image in new tab”, and you should then be able to print it out. If not, then just email medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will email it to you). Transfer the outlines to cardboard ( draw or stick them on), and cut round the cardboard, leaving a solid rectangular outline at the base – fold this back behind and under the character so they can stand up! Now use fabric scraps to dress them. I used felt for Mickey’s shorts and Snow White’s hairband and skirt, and cotton/polyester material for Mickey’s ears and Snow White’s hair and other clothing. Glue the fabric on and draw in the faces.
Another idea – find and print out images of Disney characters online – maybe Belle, Minnie Mouse, Ariel, Bambi, Pocahontas, Dumbo or Mary Poppins. Use them to make a colourful collage by arranging them to spell out the word Disney. Or make word pictures of characters’ names by writing them out in different colours and styles and sizes.
NATURE
A lot of the Disney films feature animals – even if they might be wearing clothes sometimes! Look online at videos or images of the animal species that these animal characters portray – like dalmatian dogs (1001 Dalmatians), spaniels (The Lady and The Tramp), mice (who other than Mickey?!), ducks (Donald Duck) and of course deer, like the beautiful Bambi.
NATURE IN WINTER January 2023
Winter might be dark and depressing, particularly now that Christmas is past, but I still like enjoying the natural world wherever possible – seeing holly and ivy berries, pinecones, evergreen trees still in leaf, and now snowdrops coming into flower. So here are some Creative Ideas on the theme of winter nature – suggestions of songs to listen to, art and craft to try, and ways to experience nature at this time of year, indoors and out.
MUSIC
Search for these songs and pieces of music on You Tube and enjoy listening:
*The holly and the ivy
*Tales from the Vienna Woods (a Strauss waltz)
*Snowy Morning Blues (JP Johnson)
*Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head (Sacha Distel’s 1970 hit)
*Feed The Birds (from Mary Poppins)
*I Talk To The Trees (from Paint Your Wagon)
*You Are My Sunshine (Elvis Presley)
*The first tree in the green wood (Traditional)
ART & CRAFT
*My first art idea is the winter nature picture you will see here, together with an outline colouring blank – so you can either use this as a colouring activity, or try drawing the items yourself. (To print out the images – picture and template – right click on each and select either “save as” or “Open image in new tab”, and you should then be able to print them out. If not, then just email medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will email them to you). I hope the picture shows there’s still lots to see in nature in winter. Try drawing or colouring the wintering birds, like the whooper swan and the redwing, or some of the plants and berries. You could use felt tip pens, colouring pencils, or inks and paints.
*My second idea is a craft idea – making a simple arrangement of winter plants using fabric, as you will see in the small vase next to the winter nature picture in the main image. Cut plant shapes out of colour fabrics – like the holly leaves out of dark green (I used an old towel!), berries in red felt, and stems in brown and green fabrics, as well as snowdrops flowers in white. You can make the stems stronger and 3D by wrapping the fabric around wire, a pipe cleaner or cardboard rolled up. Use glue to attach the flowers to the stems and the berries to the leaves, or sew them on. Display them in a vase or tie with a ribbon.
NATURE
*Look closely at nature to notice what you might miss or overlook. For example, notice all the different shades of green. There’s the bright green of grass, the shine of laurel leaves, dark glossy ivy, shadowy matt dark green of conifer trees or the tiny light green shoots of bulbs pushing their way up through the soil, a promise of spring. Notice different typs of tree bark too – smooth or cracked, rugged, grey or brown, patchy like silver birch bark…
*Look online to find out more about the birds which spend the winter in the UK – or in whichever country you are in. You could look for videos or images of wintering swans and geese in their large flocks, or of redwing and fieldfare feeding on windfalls and berries, sometimes in snow and ice. Or look at images of Arctic wildlife like polar bears, for a feel of more extreme cold!
WORLD ANIMAL DAY 4 October 2022
With World Animal Day on 4 October, here are some music and song suggestions, art and craft ideas to try and ways to experience nature, all on this theme. I hope you might enjoy these Creative Ideas and it would be great to hear how you get on with them – you could share in Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
MUSIC
Search for these songs and music suggestions on You Tube or other sites, and enjoy listening:
*Music from The Lion King (by Elton John and Hans Zimmer)
*Hound Dog (Elvis Presley)
*Walking The Dog (George Gershwin)
*The Hippopotamus Song (Flanders and Swann)
*Fox On The Run (a 1960s hit for Manfred Mann)
*Music from the show War Horse
*The theme from the film Black Beauty
*Carnival Of The Animals by Saint Saens
ART & CRAFT
*Animals can be very enjoyable to try drawing, painting, colouring or crafting. Here you’ll see my drawing of a gorilla and my painting of two donkeys, each with a blank outline – below – for you to use for colouring. (To print out the images – picture and template – right click on each and select either “save as” or “Open image in new tab”, and you should then be able to print them out. If not, then just email medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will email them to you). As you colour, shade some areas darker than others, such as the donkey ears, necks and manes, and the gorilla’s forehead and side of head – this makes them look more real and 3D. And with the gorilla, don’t colour all the fur black – I’ve added some blue and purple highlights to show the fur catching the light. The gorilla’s reddish brown eyes also add further colour to the picture.
*Or you could try making animal paper collage pictures. Draw a simple outline of any animal – or use my blanks again. Then cut out different sizes and shapes of colour paper or card and stick them on to the outline to form the animal. A tiger would be colourful and fun using strips of orange and black colour papers, or a zebra in black and white. You could make a fabric collage instead if you have fabric scraps to use.
NATURE
Other than pets/companion animals or farm animals, few of us get more than a fleeting glimpse of animals in real life. So the Internet opens up so many opportunities to see, watch and listen to animals. Just type whichever animal you want to see into your search engine or browser, and you should find all different images, facts, videos and sound records. Try looking at some animals from the UK – or whichever country you live in – and some from across the world.
MAKE MUSIC DAY 21 June 2022
21 June is not only the longest day of the year, but also Make Music Day – an opportunity to do just that, to make music if you sing or play, or else to enjoy listening to music and celebrating its impact. So here are some Creative Ideas – suggestions of songs and music to listen to, a couple of art & craft ideas to try, and ways to enjoy nature’s own music – all on this theme.
MUSIC
Search for any or all of these on You Tube, and enjoy!
*Music Of The Night, from Phantom Of The Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber
*Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan
*The Sound Of Silence by Paul Simon
*The Hilla Are Alive With The Sound Of Music, from The Sound Of Music
*Singin’ In The Rain (the title song of the musical)
*Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by The Andrews Sisters
*There’s No Business Like Showbusiness
*Your Song by Elton John
*Thank You For The Music by ABBA
*Clarinet or Horn Concerto by Mozart
ART & CRAFT
*Try painting a music-themed picture like mine here, showing musical instruments, notes and clefs, and some musicians’ names. Below you’ll see a blank outline of the picture which you could use or colouring or as a basis. (To print out the images – picture and template – right click on each and select either “save as” or “Open image in new tab”, and you should then be able to print them out. If not, then just email medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will email them to you). I drew the musical instruments (a guitar, a cello and some drums) as silhouettes, black outlines, so they stand out, and then used bright colours for the musical notes so the picture comes to life. You could use any colours you like. You might like to add writing to your picture too, writing on the names of favourite musicians or songs or shows to personalise the picture more.
*Make a simple drum to try playing yourself. Take any deep container (not made of glass) like a bowl or bucket. Decorate it first with ribbons or wrapping paper, or with musical notes and clefs. Then take a balloon, cut off the narrow end of the balloon, and stretch the rest over the container, sticking it down with tape. Play your drum along to some of the song suggestions here, using sticks, pencils or pens.
NATURE
Nature has music of its own! I really enjoy listening to sounds of nature, either outdoors in the garden or on a walk, or else online.
*Try listening to some unusual nature sounds online, like recorded whale song
*Again online, search for recorded sounds of the sea, of waves on the shore, like on this link here Calming Sea Sounds | Free Sound Effects | Ambient Sounds (freesoundslibrary.com) or of stormy weather, or of trees and their leaves rustling or whispering in the wind, or of a waterfall. Listen to some sounds that are exciting, energizing and stimulating, and others that are relaxing and calming.
*Birdsong might seem everyday and familiar, but it’s still great to listen to. Listen outdoors or through an open window, or search particular species online, like this great recorded nightingale song: https://www.freesoundslibrary.com/nightingale-song/
FLOWERS & INSECTS May 2022
To mark World Bee Day, which falls on 20th May, here are some new Creative Ideas on flowers and insects – music to listen to, art and craft ideas to try and ways to enjoy nature, all on this one theme. I hope you’ll enjoy them. It would be great to hear how you get on in Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
MUSIC
Search for these songs and pieces of music on You Tube and enjoy listening:
*The Flight Of The Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov
*The Wasps by Ralph Vaughan Williams
*Ramblin’ Rose by Nat King Cole
*Edelweiss from The Sound Of Music
*Lavender’s Blue (folk song)
*Down By The Salley Gardens (traditional song)
*Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying (Gerry and the Pacemakers)
*Summer Breeze (Everly Brothers)
ART & CRAFT
*Try making a paper craft picture, like mine here, of colourful flowers and insects. You’ll need small pieces of paper in different colours, a glue stick, scissors, and a large sheet of white paper to use as a backdrop. For each flower or insect, cut scraps of paper to the shape of each petal or flower centre or of the insect’s body or wings. Make the picture look more 3D by only sticking part of each petal or wing, so that the outer, unglued part lifts up off the paper background. I also made the tulip, and the daffodil trumpet, more 3D by rolling colour paper into cylinder shapes before sticking them on. Try to use a variety of colours to add interest to the scene. You can also use wool or thread to form the flower centres – as I’ve done for the poppy and daisy.
*Try some rock art. Take a large pebble or rock (you can buy bags of them at garden centres and use acrylic paints to decorate it with an image of a flower or insect – a bee or ladybird could work well. You could display it indoors, or if you’re going to place it outdoors then you’ll need to add varnish first.
NATURE
*Really look at flowers. I know I, for one, usually just glance quickly at a flower, but I’m trying to remember to really look and think more about them. Enjoy the different shapes of their petals, different shades of colour, different flower centres, and different leaves and stems. You could look at flowers in a garden or park, or in a book, or online – there are such great close-up photos out there, using macrophotography. Or try taking some photos of your own!
*Enjoy photos and videos of bees, butterflies and dragonflies, all insects we see in late spring and early summer. Search online for a particular butterfly species you like, such as the peacock butterfly, the small white, or the impressive swallowtail. Watch how all these insects fly in different ways – how bees hover and drone, butterfles flutter, and dragonflies drift and float.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DANCE April 2022
April 29th is the International Day of Dance, a “global celebration of dance” run by UNESCO. So this new set of Creative Ideas focuses on dance. There’s music to listen to, art and craft ideas and ways to experience nature, all on this theme. I hope you might enjoy them, and it would be great if you’d like to share how you get on with them on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
MUSIC
Lots of music is dance music, old and new, so here are some suggestions to search on You Tube and enjoy – you could clap or dance along as you listen!
*Waltzes like The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss or Night Owls Waltz by Zorra
*Liber Tango
*Rock Around The Clock
*Dancing In The Street (Tamla Motown)
*Yes Sir I Can Boogie (No 1 in 1977)
*Foot Tapper (The Shadows)
*Song and dance from musicals, such as Singin’ In The Rain and Make ‘Em Laugh, from Singin’ In The Rain
*You Tube has lots of music videos of particular dance styles, for example search “quickstep”, “ballroom”, “foxtrot” or “Charleston”
ART AND CRAFT
- Try a dance picture like mine in the main colour image above. Below you’ll see a blank outline template to use for the figures of the dancers – (To print out the images – picture and template – right click on each and select either “save as” or “Open image in new tab”, and you should then be able to print them out. If not, then just email medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will email them to you) Once you’ve printed out the figures, paint or colour in the couple dancing and the ballerina. Then make the dress and tutu – you could use fabric scraps, net, lace, stiff paper or tissue paper. I made the long dress out of three layers of white tissue paper, which I cut to size, decorated with a red pen, and stuck on to the picture, cutting the top layer into long strips partway up to look “flouncy”. I made the tutu by first sticking on to the picture some layers of white tissue, to make it stick out, then added the tutu itself on top, cut out of colourful wrapping paper which I’d folded into concertina pleats first. You could make the costumes more glitzy with some sequins, stars or glitter! Finally, add some musical notes to the picture.
- You could also use the outlines to make a dance collage – add other items such as ballet shoes, drawn or painted, or print out images of famous dancers or scenes from ballets or shows to stick on. You could use decoupage to make the tutu and dress or other costumes too. You could use colour pens to write on your collage the names of famous dancers or ballerinas or of dance steps or musical shows.
NATURE
So you might think there isn’t a lot of dancing in nature, but there’s one striking, long-legged bird which is known to dance – the crane. I think cranes look really elegant with their long legs and necks and their usually white, red and black plumage. Look online and you’ll find different videos of them dancing as they pair up. Enjoy watching their dancing – they don’t even need music!
WORLD BOOK DAY March 2022
With World Book Day falling on 3 March, Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas focuses on books. There are suggestions of music and songs to listen to, art and craft ideas and ways to connect with nature, all on this theme. I hope you might enjoy the Ideas and find they lift your mood. You could share how you get on with them on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
MUSIC
Books have inspired lots of music, particularly when they’ve been adapted for film or TV. Search for these on YouTube and enjoy listening, maybe while you try making the book covers.
*Music from the 1995 film Pride And Prejudice
*Music from the film of The Railway Children
*Music from any of the Bond films, based on Ian Fleming’s novels
*Music from Mary Poppins or The Wizard of Oz films, also based on books
*The Dance Of The Knights by Prokofiev (from the ballet of Romeo and Juliet)
And four songs about books:
*I Could Write A Book (Frank Sinatra)
*Paperback Writer (The Beatles)
*Wrapped Up In Books (Belle and Sebastian)
*Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush)
ART AND CRAFT
*I thought I’d try making some book covers, which you’ll see in the main image above. Below you’ll also see a template to use to try them yourself. (To print out the images – picture and template – right click on each and select either “save as” or “Open image in new tab”, and you should then be able to print them out. If not, then just email medleymusicartnature@outlook.com and I will email them to you) So to make each book cover, take an A4 sheet of cardboard. Measure 12.5 cm across from each side, then fold these two sections, leaving a middle section of 4 cm to make the book spine. Now use my template outlines to colour in some book cover images – Mole rowing a boat for The Wind In The Willows, Elizabeth and Darcy for Pride And Prejudice, or the iconic train for Murder On The Orient Express. Or draw your own images, maybe a character from a favourite book. Stick these onto the covers, and write on title and author.
*You could also make a collage of scenes and characters from books or from film adaptations of books, maybe printing out images from the Internet or drawing or painting your own.
*Try making bookmarks, either featuring favourite book characters, or just colourful patterns. You could use a letter stencil to add your own or others’ initials, and add decorative borders.
NATURE
Many famous books feature nature, or have animal characters who “come to life” in their pages – so think about the reality behind the fiction, and how these creatures really live.
*Look online for images of moles, water rats, toads and badgers – the inspiration for the main characters in The Wind In The Willows. Find out about their lives – how moles dig underground, how badgers live in groups in setts, how water rats live in riverbanks. Look for images and videos of rivers and the riverside, water flowing by.
*Find images and videoss of other animals which feature in books – maybe horses (as in Black Beauty), rabbits (Beatrix Potter and Alison Uttley), dalmatian dogs (1001 Dalmatians) or the dodo (Alice In Wonderland). Compare the real animals and the characters they inspired.
WINTER OLYMPICS February 2022
The Winter Olympics run from 4 to 21 February 2022 – they might be lower-profile than the summer Games, but they’re an extravaganza of winter sports on snow and ice nonetheless, and exciting to watch. So they are the focus of these new Creative Ideas. There are ideas of songs and pieces of music to listen to, art and craft ideas, and ways to connect with nature, all on a winter sports and winter theme.
MUSIC
Search for these songs and pieces of music online, on You Tube, and enjoy listening to them, maybe while you watch the action at the Winter Olympics, or while you try the art and craft.
*The Skaters Waltz (Waldteufel)
*Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)
*Let It Snow
*Jingle Bells
*Snowy Morning Blues (J P Johnson)
*Bolero (Ravel) – made famous by Torvill and Dean’s winning ice dance routine
*Walking In The Air (from The Snowman)
*My Favourite Things from The Sound Of Music – listen out for the lines about snowflakes and snowy winters
ART AND CRAFT
*Make a Winter Olympics scene like the main image here at the top. You’ll see a template too, below, which you can use your printer to enlarge and print out to use. You could use the figures of the speed skater and the slopestyle skier to colour in or paint on white paper. You could use the fir tree shape to cut out trees in colour paper or fabric and arrange these on the pictures, placing each tree lower than the one before it on the skiing picture so it looks as if the trees stand on a slope. Cut the snowflake and snowball shapes out of white paper. Doilies or tissue paper and arrange these on a dark background to border the skiing and skating pictures. Once the Olympics start, you could add to your scene by cutting photos of the action out of the news and stick these on as another layer.
*Make a long line of snowflake shapes out of white fabric or felt or paper, all joined to each other, stick them on to dark paper and display them along a wall or around a room.
NATURE
*Many birds and animals live in cold, snowy and icy places. Look online for images and videos of Arctic or Antarctic wildlife, creatures like polar bears, penguins (all different species, from Emperor to Adelie) and Arctic foxes. Learn how they survive in such harsh weather conditions. Some change colour to white in winter so they are camouflaged when it snows.
*Look online for images and videos of conifers, fir trees, spruces – many of these trees grow in forests in cold lands. Imagine what it would be like to walk through one of these forests, with the scent of pine needles in the air, a cold wind on your face, maybe the sound of bird ssinging or ice dripping off the trees as it melts in the sun, and the sight of vast forests, trees covered with snow. Or look for images of snowy mountain views.
BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH
The RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch takes place from 28-30 January this year, so I thought I’d focus this new set of Creative Ideas on birds and gardens. You could listen to the songs, try the art and craft ideas and use the nature ideas while you watch out for garden birds that weekend. I hope you enjoy the ideas and find them helpful.
MUSIC
Here are some songs inspired by birds and gardens to listen to
*Blackbird (The Beatles)
*Tit Willow (Gilbert and Sullivan)
*Down By The Sally Gardens
*An English Country Garden
*Feed The Birds from Mary Poppins
*The Green, Green Grass of Home
ART & CRAFT
*Try making a garden bird collage, like my collage in the main image here. Below you’ll see a template sheet to print out and enlarge if you want to. Use the bird shapes either to make paper collage birds (cut out pieces of colour paper and stick these on to the outline to form the bird), fabric birds (like my felt robin and blackbird here, simply cut out pieces of felt to fit in the different colours and stick them on) or to draw and colour in the birds, like all my others. There’s also an outline of a bird table you could add, then arrange them on and around the bird table. Or do as I’ve done and go outside, cut some fir twigs and arrange these on your collage so it looks as if you’re seeing the birds peeping out from the trees.
*You could also use the bird shapes to make a mobile – simply make a hole at the top of each completed bird, attach string, cotton or ribbon and suspend them, maybe from the rail over your window, or from an inside door handle.
*Add to any other bird picture by sticking on found materials from the garden, maybe a few conifer leaves at this time of the year, or a twig or some stems. Nature comes indoors!
NATURE
*Watching and listening to irds can be particularly positive for wellbeing. Spend time focusing on birds – as you take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch – through a window or outside, and at different times of day. See how different species behave differently – for example, look out for blackbirds tossing aside old fallen leaves as they feed, or sparrows and tits darting quickly from one bush to another. Watch birds feed on a table or at a feeder, do they squabble? See how some feed on the ground, waiting under the table for titbits to fall down.
*Listen to birds – they sing less in winter, but I still hear blackbirds (sometimes an alarm call) and starlings, and sparrows twittering in the hedge. Listen out for other sounds like rain falling or wind blowing.
*Look online for videos of other birds which come to the UK just to spend the winter – like redwings, fieldfares, bramblings, pink-footed geese or whooper swans.
*National Nestbox Week will soon be here too – mid February – maybe you could fit a nestbox this year to watch.
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CHRISTMAS Here are some ideas of ways to enjoy music, art and craft & nature on a Christmas theme to boost wellbeing. I hope you like the ideas- you could share how you get on in Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
MUSIC
Why not make a jingle bell stick to ring while you listen to just some of the many, many Christmas carols, songs and other pieces of music there are to enjoy? Simply thread some jingle bells on to a ribbon, wind the ribbon round a stick (you could use a pen, a twig or a cardboard tube), and tie it tightly at the end.
*O Holy Night
*Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)
*Rockin Around The Christmas Tree
*Silent Night
*The holly and the ivy
*Come and Join The Celebrations
*Jingle Bells
ART AND CRAFT
- Try making a Christmas wreath with a difference – no greenery in sight, instead stars, crowns and trees. On my template sheet (below), you’ll see outline shapes of 2 trees, a star and a crown. You can print these out – enlarge them if you would like to. First make your wreath. Either use a wire framework if you have one – or else cut a cardboard circle, remove the inside and wrap the outer circle in dark green fabric, as I have, or else in wrapping paper. Now make the decorations. Using the outline shapes, you can either: cut them out of colour papers or felt’ cut them out of cardboard and then wind colourful yarn or wool around them; or cut out 2 of each shape in felt or fabric, make holes where you see dots on the template shapes, then wind thread or ribbon in one hole and out through the next to join them together without the need to sew with a needle. Once you start to join them, push in some wadding to make the shapes 3D. Tie the thread or ribbon at one end. You could cut the crown shape out of gold or silver paper and make it form a loose circle and fix it with a dot of glue. Attach your decorations to the wreath using double-sided tape, or glue, or tie them on with a ribbon.
- If you make 3D trees as described here, you could also display these in a glass jar. Fill the jar to near the top with sand or with any material or wadding for the trees to stand on, and decorate the jar with a ribbon.
NATURE
*Think what you might see in a winter garden or on a winter walk, and look for images or videos of these online. You might look for bare winter trees, icicles, holly berries, plant seedheads, fir trees or pine cones.
*Think about nature in the first Christmas. There was a star shining over the stable, so look online for images or videos of stars. Then there were animals – cows and donkeys in the stable, and the camels the 3 kings rode when they came to see Jesus. Look for videos of cows, donkeys and camels, and listen to their calls, sounds that Mary, Joseph and the baby would have heard.
*Reindeer have become part of Christmas too. Look online for videos of them in their cold, snowy northern homelands.
SPACE October 2021
Here again are some ideas on Space, marking World Space Week which runs from 3-10 October.
Space conjures up freedom to explore, new perspectives. It is elemental, exciting, awesome.
MUSIC
Search and listen. If you play a musical instrument, you might like to play the pieces or songs yourself, or improvise to the music. You could sing along. You might like to listen, play or sing as you look at the night sky, through the window maybe or in your garden (quietly!)
The Planets (Gustav Holst)
Moon River
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles, later cover by Elton John)
Starry, Starry Night
Sing To The Moon (Laura Mvula)
Star Wars film scores (John Williams)
ART
*Cut star shapes out of colourful paper and display on black paper or cloth
*Try making a solar system or space mobile, with planet, star, sun and moon shapes. You could use papers in different colours or in gold and silver. Make holes in the top of each shape to tie string or ribbon through, and tie them somewhere where they will turn in a draft and catch the light.
*Cut star shapes out of felt or other material and embroider them or paint or draw patterns on them with fabric paint or marker pens.
*Experiment by painting the night sky in different media – acrylics for a bold, striking painting, or watercolours for misty atmosphere.
*Try a detailed pen or pencil drawing of the solar system, labelling the planets.
*Make a word picture on a space theme. With colour pens or pencils, write down words which come to mind when you think of outer space, like planet, meteorite or astronaut.
*Try photographing the night sky.
NATURE
Spend time looking at the night sky. Compare the impenetrable darkness of an overcast night with the bright clarity of moonlight.
Look at the shadows and reflections cast by moonlight.
See how moonlight filters through a tree’s leaves or bare branches.
Look at the moon on a misty night, when hazy clouds half-obscure it or pattern the sky.
Over a month, follow the moon’s cycle – we should see the next new moon on the 13th.
Don’t forget satellites. These can actually be seen more easily with the naked eye than with a telescope: look out when dusk falls.
HARVEST 28 September-12 October 2021
Autumn is here and I thought I’d focus this new set of Creative Ideas on Harvest, traditional highlight of the farming year and still so important to us all. There are songs and pieces of music to listen to, art and craft ideas and even ways to connect with nature, all on a Harvest theme. It would be great if you’d like to share how you get on with any of the Ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you! I hope you enjoy them.
MUSIC
Search for these songs on You Tube or other sites, and enjoy listening. You could sing along, or listen while you try one of the art and craft ideas.
*Maggie’s Farm (Bob Dylan)
*Cherry Ripe
*The harvest hymn Come ye thankful people come
*Oh What A Beautiful Morning from the musical Oklahoma
*To Be A Farmer’s Boy
*Rolling Home or Barleycorn from the play War Horse
ART & CRAFT
*Make a collage basket of harvest produce. I made my collage using cut paper and card. First I cut pieces of cardboard to make the basket and arranged these in a lattice pattern across each other, then added two strips for the handle. Then I cut fruit and vegetable shapes out of colour papers – grapes, blueberries, cherries, an apple, a pear out of patterned paper for a change, broccoli, tomato. I arranged them to look as if they’re spilling out of the basket or resting in it. I stuck them all on to the background paper using a glue stick, then added the “basket” on top. You could use modelling clay instead to make 3D produce.
*Draw or paint a harvest mouse, or use the outline blank above for colouring. I drew mine using colour felt pens, colour ballpoints and watercolour pencils.
*Try drawing or painting a newly harvested field with hay bales or stacks, or a barn full of hay ales for winter. Online find Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s famous series paintings of haystacks at different times of day.
NATURE
*Think about the actual experience of harvesting for farmers and for wildlife on the farm. For farmers: maybe long hours in the combine harvester, heat and dust, rushing to get the harvest in before rain comes. For wildlife – maybe harvest mice or farmland birds – getting out of the way of farm machinery, then maybe emrging to feed on newly harvested stubble fields when the coast is clear! Think of the smells of hay and silage and soil.
*Look online for videos of harvesting – there are all kinds of videos of harvesting in different countries and using different kinds of machinery. And look for videos of sea gulls following a tractor as it ploughs a field. Listen to the gulls’ cry.
*Look online for videos of harvest mice, and see how agile and alert they are as they cling to stalks in the fields.
OLYMPIC GAMES 26 July-9 August 2021
The Olympic Games – finally – are underway, a year late! So they are the theme for Medey’s new Creative Ideas. There are songs and pieces of music to listen to, art and craft ideas and even ways to connect with nature, all on an Olympics theme. It would be great if you’d like to share how you get on with any of the Ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you! I hope you enjoy them.
MUSIC
Search for these online and enjoy listening. You could listen to them while you try the art & craft ideas, or turn the sound of the commentary down while you watch the Olympics on TV & listen to these instead…
*The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel)
*Gold and Silver Waltz (Franz Lehar)
*The theme from the film Chariots Of Fire
*Gold (Spandau Ballet)
*Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen)
ART & CRAFT
*Make a pop-up scene – see main image, above. Use my template outlines (below) of a runner, cyclist, diver and high jumper, or draw your own. Cut the shapes out of paper, leaving long narrow rectangular strips at either side to make tabs. Paint or colour the sportspeople with paints, pens or colouring pencils. Next, fold a piece of card or thick paper in half as if making a card. Now fold each tab in half behind the sportsperson, and glue the back half of each tab to the card, to either side of the card’s central fold. This should make it look as if the sportsperson is running/cycling/diving/jumping out of the card. Decorate the rest of the card with lettering and Olympic symbols.
*Try painting or drawing the athletes or other sportspeople in a photo of the Olympics in a newspaper or magazine or printed from a website. I enjoy drawing and painting sports where there’s a great feeling of movement, so you might like to find a photo of a diver, gymnast or skateboarder in mid-air to try!
*Try scrapbooking on an Olympics theme. Find photos, news headlines and other news cuttings to add as the Games progress. Draw outline figures of sportspeople in action. Make medals to add using gold fabric or paper or paint & ribbons.
NATURE
These ideas on connecting with nature are inspired by the Olympic motto “faster, higher, stronger”…
*Look online for videos of the world’s fastest animal (the cheetah, which can run as fast as 120 km/h!) and the world’s fastest bird (the peregrine falcon).
*Look at images or videos of the world’s highest mountains, tallest trees, highest waterfalls, and of the animals which jump highest.
*Look for videos of the world’s strongest animals, like elephants or rhinos. But even insects can be very strong for their size.
BASTILLE DAY 12-25 July 2021
Medley’s new Creative Ideas cross the Channel to France to mark July 14th, Bastille Day, France’s national holiday. There are French songs and pieces of music to enjoy, art & craft ideas and ways to connect with nature, all on a French theme. You might like to share how you get on with any of the Ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you! I hope you enjoy them.
MUSIC
Search for these songs or pieces of music online, maybe on YouTube, and enjoy listening, sing along, dance or clap.
*La boheme (Charles Aznavour)
*La mer (Charles Trenet)
*La vie en rose
*Bolero (Ravel) (famous as Torvill & Dean’s skating music)
*Beau Soleil (Debussy)
*La nuit est sur la ville (Francoise Hardy)
*Ne me quitte pas (Jacques Brel)
ART & CRAFT
*Make a French themed picture or collage. Use the template shapes (below) or make your own. You could make the items for your collage from fabric, colour papers or found items like pictures cut out of magazines. I made the sunflower out of fabric, the Eiffel Tower and the flag out of colour card, the Metro sign out of colour paper. I drew the glass on white paper and stuck red paper cutouts onto it to look like red wine inside the glass. I found the pictures of baguettes and French cheese in an old cookery book and cut them out! There may be other, different symbols of France you’d like to feature as well.
*Try making jewellery on a French theme, by using blue, red and white beads or sequins to make a necklace or brooch. Or make a French scarf by plaiting blue, red and white pieces of material together and tying each end, or by sewing them together.
*Find one of the French Impressionists’ paintings which you like – maybe Monet’s water lilies or Renoir’s Les Parapluies (The Umbrellas) – and try copying it, either as a painting or as a drawing. Or you could paint your own version of the painting’s subject.
NATURE
*France is so varied a country. Search online, or look in books, for images and videos to enjoy a virtual tour. You could “experience” the River Seine, different parts of France’s coastline, the Pyrenees or other French mountains, or the wild marshes of the Camargue with their white horses and flamingos.
*Look at a map of France and follow the many rivers to see where they flow, notice all the unspoilt, rural areas of France inland where there are quiet villages, and look to see where are the hills and mountain ranges.
*Online or in books, enjoy views of France’s many beautiful gardens: maybe Malmaison (once home to Empress Josephine), which has an amazing collection of roses, or the Palace of Versailles, or the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.
THE FOURTH OF JULY 29 June-11 July
As the USA marks Independence Day on the Fourth of July, Medley’s latest Creative Ideas have gone all-American. There are songs, art & craft ideas and ways to connect with nature, all on a US theme. I hope you will find them enjoyable and helpful in some way. It would be great if you would like to share how you get on with the Ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
MUSIC
Search for these songs online, maybe on You Tube, and enjoy listening or sing along. You could listen while you try one of the art & craft ideas.
*Star Spangled Banner
*Something’s Coming or America from West Side Story
*Broadway Melody from Singin’ In The Rain
*All Shook Up by Elvis Presley
*The Trolley Song from Meet Me In St Louis
*Memphis, Tennessee by Elvis Presley
*What A Wonderful World by Satchmo Armstrong
ART AND CRAFT
*Make a foldout display like my main image above. Take 3 sheets of paper or card. Fold one of the sheets into 3 and using a glue stick, stick one of the sections onto the left side of the main sheet so it folds outwards like a side panel. Do this again for the right side. Using my template shapes (below) or drawing your own, add the US images – the Statue of Liberty on the left panel, the map and the flag in the middle on the main sheet, and the Disney image on the right panel. Either paint them or colour them. Stick red and blue colour paper to the inner sections of each side panel to make them colourful, or colour them.
*Make fabric Stars and Stripes flags, using sequins or decorative stars on blue material for the “Stars” part, and strips of red and white material for the “Stripes”. You could make a few and display them on sticks made of thick card, maybe in a vase or jug or tied to a door handle.
*Take the USA as your inspiration as you decide what to paint or draw. Look online for images to inspire you. You might like to paint or draw an American footballer or baseball player, or the Golden Gate Bridge, Elvis Presley or an American bird or animal.
NATURE
*Look online for images of American national parks or nature reserves. The world’s first national parks were in the USA, like Yellowstone.
*Find online videos of American landscapes – you could watch different views or journeys through the USA’s open spaces, or maybe the Great Lakes or Niagara Falls or the Atlantic ocean.
*Look at images of American wildlife, maybe whales, raccoons, bald eagles or the monarch butterfly. Or wonder at the size and scale of the giant redwood and sequoia trees for which the US is famous.
SKY AND CLOUDS 8-21 June
We might easily forget to look up at the sky but watching as it changes through the day and as clouds form is a great way to connect with nature. So the theme for Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas is Sky And Clouds: with songs to enjoy, art and craft ideas and ways to experience nature, all on this one theme. It would be great if you would like to share how you get on with the Ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
MUSIC
Search for these songs on YouTube and enjoy listening, maybe while watching the sky, outdoors or through a window.
*Mr Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
*Smile (Nat King Cole – “though there are clouds in the sky/you’ll get by)
*Anywhere You Go, Always Take The Weather With You
*Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler)
*Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles)
ART
*Make a papercraft sky scene – see main image above – combining paper cutting and quilling. First cut hot air balloon shapes out of colour paper (you could print out the template shapes below to cut round) and stick these on to a sheet of blue paper or card. You might like to decorate them with patterns. Then cut strips of white paper no wider than about 1 cm each, and use these to make clouds by quilling them: wind each strip around a pencil (or a quilling tool if you have one) so it forms a circle, then ease the circle off the pencil or tool, let it loosen slightly in your hand and then glue the end. Stick these on to the cloud shapes and stick on to the backdrop. You could also add some paper cut clouds for a contrast.
*Try painting or drawing the sky in different weather and at different times of the day. See how shades of colour alter, paint or draw different types of cloud, and try different media – maybe acrylic for bold colours or a pencil drawing to focus on how to shade clouds. You could experiment with painting clouds using acrylic very thickly in an “impasto” style, maybe on blue or other dark paper so it stands out.
*Make a word picture: write or paint words on a sky theme, like sunset, flying or cloud, using different colours and writing or painting them in different sizes and styles. You could illustrate the picture with drawings or cut out lettering from magazines.
NATURE
*Look in a book or online at the main different types of cloud, like cirrus and stratus clouds. Then see which types you can identify each day. You could record them in a cloud diary, either by noting their names or by photographing them.
*Look at the sky at different times of day, from dawn through midday to dusk and on through the night.
*Try predicting changes in the weather by looking at the sky – for example, notice how clouds grow in size and height before a thunderstorm, how clouds darken before rain, and how a red sunset can forecast bright weather the following day.
THE SEA 24 May-7 June 2021
When the sun is shining and temperatures start to warm up, many of us do like to be beside the seaside, so that’s the theme for Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas. Here are songs and music to enjoy, art and craft ideas to try and ways to observe and connect with nature, all on the theme of the sea. It would be great if you would like to share how you get on with the Ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
MUSIC
Search for these sea-themed songs and pieces of music online and enjoy listening. You could sing or clap along. You might like to listen while looking at pictures of the sea, or looking at the sea itself if you can get there.
*The Skye Boat Song
*Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay
*Sailor (a 1960s hit for Petula Clark)
*Sea Pictures (Edward Elgar)
*Sailing By (Ronald Binge)
*Fantasia on British Sea Songs (Henry Wood, played at the Last Night Of The Proms every year)
*Or you could listen to some sea shanties, which are very popular again now. One of the most famous is What d’ye do with a drunken sailor? But there are lots out there, some were whaling songs.
ART
*Make a fabric art seaside picture (see my image above). Use as a backdrop a piece of blue, dark blue or turquoise material, cut to the size you want. Then cut anchor, boat and fish shapes out of other materials in contrasting colours – you can print out the shapes here (below) to use for your cutouts. Add buttons or sequins for the fish eyes. You could also add wave shapes in a different shade of turquoise or blue. Attach the shapes to the background using either double-sided sticky tape or glue, or you could sew them on – maybe using bright colour thread to make a feature of your stitching.
*Draw or paint a rockpool. Search online or in a book for the different creatures you might see in a rockpool, and draw or paint them. You could use acrylic paints for a bright, colourful scene, or watercolour pencils or pastels for a paler picture. You might like to label each creature, maybe in colour inks.
*Paint two contrasting sea views: one of a stormy sea with high, dark waves, and the other of a calm, blue sea. You could paint in a line of cliffs on the horizon, a lighthouse or the sail of a boat. Add the sky – overcast for the stormy sea picture but bright and cloudless for the calm sea painting.
NATURE
*Spend some time listening to whale song (search online), which many people find calming and magical. It’s so other-worldly and an opportunity to experience the deep ocean. Whales can hear each other’s calls underwater when they are hundreds of miles away.
*Look at the patterns in sand or mud left by the tide. If you can’t get to the seaside then watch videos online of tides in different places and of cresting waves.
*Think about the sea’s different moods – the power and drama of a stormy sea as it pounds against a headland, compared to the slow lap of waves against the shore on a still day.
TRAVEL AND TRANSPORT 10-24 May 2021
As travel restrictions ease and as summer nears, Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas focuses on TRAVEL AND TRANSPORT – journeys and how we make them. There are well-known songs on the theme, art and craft activity ideas to try and ways to connect with nature. It would be great if you would like to share any responses or how you get on with the ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
MUSIC
Search for these songs online, maybe on YouTube, and enjoy listening or singing along:
*Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight)
*Take The ‘A’ Train (Duke Ellington)
*No Particular Place To Go66 (Chuck Berry – “Riding along in my automobile…”)
*Mystery Train (Elvis Presley)
*Long Black Limousine (Elvis Presley)
*Chattanooga Choo-Choo (Glenn Miller)
*Trains And Boats And Planes (Burt Bacharach)
ART
*Try drawing and/or painting different modes of transport: a car, a train, maybe a racing car or a steam train, an aeroplane or a hot air balloon, or even a pair of walking boots or shoes. You could draw or paint the one subject in different media, to see how different your pictures of, say, a car look in pencil, in colour pen, in acrylic paint and so on.
*Print out the blank outline (below) of a classic car and use this for art or craft, as I’ve done in the main image (above). You could try colouring the car, or use fabric or paper cutouts to make it look more decorative. I’ve used buttons for the wheels and for the headlights.
*Try scrapbooking or making a collage on a travel and transport theme: create a montage of maps, photos and your own drawings or paintings of vehicles, flags from different countries, and signposts. You could draw, colour and make the items yourself or cut some out of catalogues or magazines.
NATURE
*Think about wildlife which travels long distances, maybe on annual migrations: birds like swifts and swallows, insects like monarch or painted lady butterflies. Whales cover long distances in the oceans. Look out for migratory birds like swifts. Look through an atlas and imagine all these different creatures’ routes across the world.
*When we travel, it opens up opportunities to see nature in different settings. If travelling isn’t possible, try a virtual journey. Watch online videos of journeys and look out for different vistas or views. Or listen to slow radio and podcasts of walks or journeys in different places. Some use lots of great sound effects to conjure up an atmosphere of motion and travel.
*Trees and other plants depend on birds, insects and the wind to pollinate them and to disperse their seeds to grow in different places. Seed from a hazel or hawthorn bush might travel ten miles from the bush and then germinate. So look at trees and bushes and think how they might have grown from the seeds of trees miles away.
RIVERS 26 April-9 May 2021
Rivers and streams can be an important focus in any view or landscape, city or village alike. They might be a quiet haven and a great habitat for wildlife, or a busy, wide waterway. Here are ideas of songs and music inspired by rivers to enjoy, art and craft ideas on the theme and ways to experience nature through rivers as well. It would be great if you would like to share any responses or how you get on with the ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
Always take care near water.
MUSIC
Search for these songs or pieces of music online and enjoy listening, maybe while looking through pictures of rivers or even walking by one. Maybe sing or play along.
*Deep River (Traditional)
*Ferry Cross The Mersey (Gerry and the Pacemakers)
*Let The River Run (Carly Simon)
*Blue Danube (Johann Strauss)
*Roamin’ In The Gloamin’ “By the bonny banks of Clyde”
*The Swanee River (World War One song)
*Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)
ART
*Draw a riverbank with tall trees growing along the bank, some of their roots exposed along the bank. Or try painting a river in watercolour, maybe “wet in wet” where you add different colours before others dry, so the colours run together.
*Make a paper cut collage or use applique (stitching smaller fabric cutouts onto a larger background cloth) on a rivers theme – first cut a wide, wavy strip of blue or grey paper or material to make your river, then create a riverside scene around it as you add tree shapes, reeds and rushes, fish shapes, maybe a bridge or stepping stones.
*Paint, draw or photograph different bridges – maybe large, dramatic bridges like the Clifton Suspension Bridge, or a simple, small wooden bridge over a stream.
NATURE
*Choose a river and follow its course on a map or in an atlas. See what countryside it flows through – is the land hilly or flat, how long is its course, where is its mouth where it enters the sea? You might find pictures of the river’s course in books or online too: maps reveal a lot, but a scene comes to life in a photo. You might choose a local river or one overseas, one you know or one you’ve never seen.
*Enjoy the sounds of a river or stream – go for a walk by the water if possible or else listen online – just type “sounds of a river” into your browser or search on You Tube. Notice how the river’s flow might sound different if the water’s low or near to flood, and if the riverbed is stony or sandy. Listen out for any waterbirds or insects.
*Look online at images of wildlife which lives in or close to water: like dragonflies, water birds, or fish.
NAMES 12-25 April 2021
We might take names for granted but they are an important part of who we are and of how we connect with other people. So Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas has songs to listen to all featuring names, some art and craft ideas on the theme and some ideas for thinking about names in nature too. You might like to share any responses or how you get on with the ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
MUSIC
Search for these songs online and enjoy listening to them. You might like to sing or clap along, or to try comparing different versions of them. You could listen outdoors. You could also search online to see if your own name features in any other songs.
*Daniel (Elton John)
*Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)
*I once met a girl named Maria (Leonard Bernstein, from West Side Story)
*Hey Jude (The Beatles)
*The Grand Old Duke Of York
*Jolene (Dolly Parton)
*Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer, Do
ART
*Make an “initial” card for someone, or an initial picture for yourself. Write the initial as the focus of the picture or card, and them draw or paint around it different items which share that initial – maybe plants, a bird or insect. For example, for the letter L you could paint a lobelia flower, a ladybird, a lapwing (bird) and so on.
*Draw or paint your own or someone else’s name to make a card or picture – in a bold or striking colour, maybe a colour which shares the name’s initial – and then create a decorative border around the name, using pens or paint. The border could be a simple repetitive pattern, or different colours and patterns on each side, or it could feature particular motifs like leaves, ribbons or shapes. The border could be rectangular or circular.
*Make a collage or assemblage of different names using paper cutouts of letters in different fonts and sizes from magazines or catalogues. Or you could draw or paint the names in different styles and colours. You could feature the names of people you know, plants’ names, or famous people’s names.
NATURE
*So much of our experience of nature is tied up with knowing the names of different species to identify what we see. Think about how some of these names came about. Look at plants (in nature or in a catalogue or online) and think about their names, like black-eyed Susan (rudbeckia) or coneflower. Think about people’s names which can also be plant names, like Holly or Rowan.
*Think what birds’ names might tell us about that species, like a swift (expertly quick at flying) or a chiffchaff (named for its song)or the goldcrest (with its yellow crest).
*Some species names sound quite striking if you stop and think about them – like a dragonfly, a flimsy drifting insect very unlike a fiery dragon!
*On a walk you could look out for place names on signposts, maybe half hidden by a tree or situated at a crossroads.
GARDENS 22 MARCH-5 APRIL
Now that gardens have burst back into life for spring, Medley’s latest set of Creative Ideas has songs and music to listen to on this theme, as well as art and craft ideas to try and ways to connect with nature through gardens. It would be great if you’d like to share any responses or how you get on with the ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
MUSIC
Search for these songs and pieces of music online, listen and enjoy! Maybe sing and clap along too. You might like to listen outdoors, in a garden, or indoors but with a window open on to a garden if possible.
*Rose Garden (a 70s hit for Lynn Anderson and for New World)
*Down By The Salley Gardens
*Keep Off The Grass (by US composer J P Johnson who also invented the Charleston dance)
*In An English Country Garden (Percy Grainger)
*Victorian Kitchen Garden
ART
*Make a garden-themed mural, mural picture, collage or banner, using a large piece of paper or card, canvas or fabric as your background, or try scrapbooking on the theme. Combine different art styles and media: draw and paint some images, add paper cutouts of others (maybe from seed or bulb packs or catalogues), and make some images out of colour materials, maybe felt, cotton or ribbon. You could feature all kinds of images: tools, plants, sheds, garden seats, sunhats…You could add to this over the months as different plants come into flower, and you could work on it as part of a group, all contributing different images.
*Draw and paint (or photograph) some garden birds, maybe on a bird table or feeder. They can look so acrobatic as they feed so try to focus on this in your picture.
*Draw or cut out shapes of wheelbarrows or garden sheds and decorate them with different colours or patterns, or show what’s in the barrow or shed, like a plant, gloves or tools.
*Make a fantasy flowerbed by drawing, painting or using paper cutouts to show plants which flower at all different times of year or in different countries all out together!
NATURE
*If you have a garden, try a garden bioblitz – where you see how many species you can find. Search “garden bioblitz” online to find tips and ideas on how to do this.
*Focus on listening to the sounds in a garden at different times of the day: you might hear wind rustling through a bush or tree, birdsong, insects, rain falling on to a shed roof or dripping off plants, or a nearby mower.
*Look at the way light moves across a garden through the day, how sunmight catches plants or casts shadows on to the grass or concrete from trees or nearby buildings.
*Decide to add a different plant to your garden each month this year, and see how each one grows in a particular position. If you don’t have a garden try planting a different plant each month in containers on a windowledge or add a new houseplant each month.
CITIES 1-14 MARCH
Many cities look different than they usually do at the moment, with no crowds and with businesses closed. But they’re still there: waiting! Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas has songs and pieces of music to listen to, art and craft ideas to try and ways to connect with nature, all on a CITIES theme this fortnight. You might like to share how you get on with the ideas on Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
MUSIC
Search and listen to these songs or pieces of music. You might like to sing along, or play them yourself if you play a musical instrument.
*An American In Paris (George Gershwin)
*An Englishman In New York (Sting)
*Arrivederci Roma
*Quiet City (Aaron Copland)
*Streets Of London
*New York, New York (from the Leonard Bernstein musical On The Town)
ART
*Try drawing some city skylines in colour pens, pencil, black pen or colouring pencils. You could draw skylines for cities you know, or just famous cities – for example, for London draw the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben and the London Eye. Or you could draw imaginary city skylines.
*Instead of drawing the skylines, you could just draw or colour outlines of the skyline shapes, maybe as silhouettes. Make sure your chosen skyline has some distinctive shapes, like domes or skyscrapers or a construction like the Eiffel Tower.
*Make a fabric city – use a fabric or paper backdrop (either blue for sky or black for a night sky) and cut out and stick on to this different shaped buildings in different materials, colours or patterns. You could sew them on if you use a fabric background.
*Draw or paint a couple of buildings or a street scene in acity you know or like. You could use photographs to work from. Your picture could be atmospheric and impressionistic, or you could draw a more detailed view using a black ink pen or even a biro.
NATURE
*Cities might seem like hostile place sfor nature & wildlife. But many species do survive and thrive in urban areas. If you live in or near a city, look for street trees, insects, birds. Find out about local projects to help urban wildlife. There migh tbe live webcam feeds to watch or other news to follow. In the UK, your local Wildlife Trust is a good place to start.
*Look at pictures of famous cities across the world and look out for any open spaces, trees or other signs of nature’s presence.
*Think about nature’s own “cities” – very different from our own. I’ve heard seabird colonies on cliffs called “seabird cities”. Some insect species, like ants, gather in large colonies. Think what their “cities” might be like from their perspective. Look at pictures in books or online.
RAIN AND SNOW 18-31 January
While there are clear sunny days as well, in mid to late winter we do see a lot of rain and sometimes snow too. So Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas focuses on RAIN and SNOW, with songs and music to listen to, art & craft ideas and ways to notice rain and snow in nature in new ways. You might like to share how you get on with the Ideas on Medley’s Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you.
MUSIC
Search and listen, sing along or try playing one or two of the songs or pieces of music. Listen to them while watching rain fall, or looking at a snowy scene if it snows this fortnight where you are.
*Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
*Singing In The Rain (the musical)
*Rhythm of the Rain (a 1960s hit and again in the 1990s)
*It’s Raining (No 2 in 1978 for Darts)
*Prelude “The Raindrop” Op 28 No 15 (Frederic Chopin)
*Snowy Morning Blues (J P Johnson)
*Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)
*The Skaters Waltz (Waldteufel)
ART & CRAFT
*Draw different animal and bird footprints in black pen on white paper or card, so they look like tracks in the snow (look up different footprints in a book or online).
*Make snowflake patterns by cutting different shaped snowflakes out of white tissue paper or white fabric and sticking them on to black paper or card. Every single snowflake has a unique pattern, so you can let your imagination fly – but they are always six-sided, like a star.
*Paint a snowy scene (maybe a fence and gate covered with snow) or else paint an abstract picture expressing how rain and snow make you feel – maybe a swirling grey pattern.
*Draw or paint a colourful sledge, or someone skating or skiing.
*Draw some umbrellas and decorate them with different designs – patterns or colours – either using pens, paint or collage.
NATURE
*Notice how snow drains all colour from any view, all becomes bleached white, then notice how all the variety of colour gradually returns as the snow melts and every shade seems brighter than before.
*Think about or listen to the sounds of rain or snow. Snow muffles sound, so that even footsteps going by on the road sound different. Listen to rain falling, maybe pattering on to a roof, dripping or trickling, or pelting on to a window on awindy day. Listen to ice dripping off a tree as it melts in a winter sun.
*Look at reflections in puddles, particularly if it stops raining and the sun comes out. Seeing a tree or wall reflected can make you look at it differently.
*Notice raindrops glistening or gleaming on a tree branch or a spider’s web or on ivy leaves.
8 songs or pieces of music to sing or listen to, 5 art and craft ideas and 4 ways to connect with nature: Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas focuses on the theme of RAIN and SNOW as winter comes to an end. I hope you enjoy them https://medley.live/creative-ideas
DOORS AND ENTRANCES 4-17 January 2021
2021 is here: a new year, maybe a new beginning. So Medley’s new set of Creative Ideas features songs and music, art & craft ideas, and ways to connect with nature, all on the theme of DOORS AND ENTRANCES – opening up a new way ahead.
MUSIC
Search for these songs or pieces of music, listen and sing along, or play them yourself. You could listen while trying one of the art or craft ideas.
*Close Another Door (The Bee Gees)
*Open The Door Homer (Bob Dylan)
Two Doors Down (Dolly Parton)
*Welcome To My World
*On The Steps of the Palace (Stephen Sondheim, from Into The Woods)
*Come Up To My Place (Leonard Bernstein, from On The Town)
*Walls Come Tumbling Down (Paul Weller and The Style Council, played at Live Aid)
ART
*Try painting or drawing doors, gates or other entrances. You could paint doors in different colours, or draw doors open, closed or ajar. You could paint a door framed by trees or other plants, or a window with a colourful windowbox.
*Make different decorations to display on doors. You could use ivy and evergreens to make an outdoor winter wreath or posy. Or you could make an indoor decoration using colourful ribbons or pieces of fabric plaited together to make a ring to suspend from a hook or to tie around a door handle in a bow.
*Try photographing views framed by a doorway or gate. Even just a familiar view of a street could look different seen through an open doorway.
*Make a decorative transparent panel to display in a sunlit window or glass door. Use tissue paper, voile or gauze in bright colours and cut out shapes from it to make a pattern.
*Make a door greetings card. Fold a piece of card, then draw or paint a door on the front of the card. Cut along the top, right hand side and bottom of the door, leaving it attached to the rest of the card down its left hand side. Decorate the inside of the card with a colourful pattern, or a drawing, or a painting or photograph, the size of the door. You could close the card by tying it up with a ribbon.
NATURE
*Try making a bug hotel, using pieces of wood or recycling all kinds of old containers to construct entrances where insects can shelter. Search online for patterns and instructions.
*Look out for field gates, for stiles, for paths and tracks which open up new ways to go. Look for gaps along a hedge or for trees which form a natural entrance to a field or open space.
*Look down for entrances to animal burrows or setts, or for mole hills. On my walks I sometimes see an old sett and a well-worn path down the slope, but I don’t think it is used anymore. Or look up for holes in tree trunks, where birds might nest or shelter. You could look for all these in pictures in books or online if you can’t see them outdoors.
*Nature could all seem open space to us, but birds and wild animals have a strong sense of territory and will defend their own patch. Look or listen out for birds like robins perched on a branch at the edge of their territory, singing to ward off other birds.
LIGHT AND DARKNESS 14-27 December 2020
Now that darkness falls so early and some days it barely comes fully light at all, I thought I would focus Medley’s latest set of Creative Ideas on LIGHT and DARKNESS. Soon now, slowly, the days will start to draw out once again. You might like to share what you do with the Creative Ideas on Medley’s new Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you.
MUSIC
You could try listening to the songs in the darkness as well as by day, and see how you respond differently to them. You could sing or clap along, and search for covers of the songs which are instrumental only.
*Shine A Light
*Blinded by the Light (Bruce Springsteen or cover by Manfred Mann)
*Star of wonder, star of night (We 3 Kings of Orient are)
*You’ll Never Walk Alone (“When you walk through a storm/Hold your head up high/And don’t be afraid of the dark…”)
*In The Still Of The Night
*Candle In The Wind (Elton John)
*Light (Michael Kiwanuka)
ART
*Experiment with painting objects and their shadows: maybe a tree and the shadow it casts, or an ornament and its shadow. A shadow will be cast on the side of the object opposite to or away from the light. Or try photographing objects and their shadows, like my photo here of a houseplant and its shadow by lamplight.
*Cut patterns or shapes out of tissue paper or other transparent, see-through paper or gauzy material in different colours, and display them in the window or even on the windowpane, so daylight and sunlight shine through them. They may cast colourful reflections on the windowledge or floor like stained glass might do.
*As soon as I took up drawing, I learned how important it was to shade my drawings to create the illusion of 3D. So try drawing any item you see and shade in the side of the object further away from the light, and it will look more solid and lifelike.
*Try making a glove puppet to use as a shadow puppet. It needs some distinctive features to stand out and make the shadow more dramatic, so you could make an animal puppet with large ears or a shape puppet with circles and triangles at the top.
NATURE
*Compare a familiar view in daylight, at dusk and at night – on a bright moonlit night or on a darker, overcast or foggy night. Switch on an outside light and see how it changes a familiar scene like your garden so that it looks like a stage set – or look at the light cast by a street light and how this contrasts with the shadows nearby. See how your eyes slowly adjust to the darkness so you can observe more.
*Notice how different colours shine in the raindrops on wet grass or in water droplets on an icy tree, when the sunlight catches them
*See how the Sun’s height in the sky differs through the day or the year by measuring the shadow cast by a tree or other object. In midwinter the Sun is so low.
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TREES, WOODS AND FORESTS 30 November-13 December
Marking National Tree Week and a time of year when many new trees will be planted, Medley’s new Creative Ideas focus on trees, woods and forests – such important parts of any landscape. There are songs and pieces of music to play or listen to, art and craft ideas to try and ways to observe and experience trees, planted singly or growing in a wood or forest. You might like to share what you do with the Creative Ideas on Medley’s new Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you.
MUSIC
Search and listen, sing or clap. If possible, you could listen outdoors in a wood or looking through a window at some trees. You could even listen while you plant a new tree for National Tree Week.
*Moments In The Woods (from Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into The Woods)
*I Talk To The Trees (from Paint Your Wagon)
*Song From The Wood (Jethro Tull)
*A Walk in The Black Forest (Horsl Jankowski)
*Tales From The Vienna Woods (Johann Strauss The Younger)
*The Ash Grove (traditional folk song)
*If you go down to the woods today…
*By Banks of Green Willows (George Butterworth)
*O Christmas Tree
ART
*Try drawing or painting one tree in different media: pencil, charcoal, colouring pencil, pastel, watercolour paint or acrylic – and compare them all.
*Draw tree silhouettes of different tree species which have contrasting shapes, like the squat, broad form of an oak and the tall, narrow poplar. Display them all together.
*Choose a tree you see regularly if possible – maybe a tree in your garden or visible from your window or seen on a walk) and decide to photograph, draw or paint it every month for a year, to record how it changes. Or you could photograph/draw/paint just one branch each month, to focus on how the buds unfurl, leaves open and expand, then tint and fall.
*Cut tree shapes out of different green or brown material, some plain, some patterned. You could stick them on to card to make a fabric forest, or sew them onto white material. Vary the fabric trees’ sizes and shapes.
NATURE
*Usually we might only cast a fleeting glance at a tree, so try looking more carefully (if you can’t get outside, then look through pictures of trees). Look at the different markings, patterning or colours on their trunks, any ivy on the trees, how high on the trunk the first branches form, the tree’s shape, any early buds and so on.
*If you can find an old tree stump or a log, count the rings. Each ring marks a year of the tree’s growth, so you can work out how old the tree was when it came down.
*Listen to the different sounds trees make on a windy day: the rushing sound of the wind blowing through a conifer or the stirring of bare branches.
*If you can get to a wood or forest, identify as many tree species as you can. As it is winter the tree’s shape will be your main clue, but fallen leaves underfoot might help.
*Take bark rubbings of different trees, or look out for different types of bark. It might be gnarled or fissured, smooth, scaly or patchy.
TIME 16-29 November
Time is the theme for Medley’s latest set of Creative Ideas, at a time of the year when the clocks have changed and day turns to evening earlier and earlier (and when by New Year the days will be drawing out slowly once again). It would be great if you would like to share what you do with the Creative Ideas on Medley’s new Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you!
Music
Search and listen, or if you play a musical instrument try playing along, or respond by clapping or dancing. Sing along to the songs, or listen while you try one of the art or nature activities.
*(Thank You For The) Days (The Kinks)
*What a difference a day makes
*Yesterday (The Beatles)
*Clock Symphony (Joseph Haydn)
*4’32” (John Cage) – a famous and controversial piece of silence!
*You can’t hurry love (Phil Collins)
Art
*Draw, paint or photograph one scene or view at different times of the day to see how different it looks. This could be the view through your window or any other scene.
*Create a word picture on the theme of time. Write words on the theme (like midnight or year) in different colours or styles, in upper or lower case letters, or in different sizes. You could create your word picture using a graphic design programme as I have here.
*Design an hour glass or sand timer in different colours.
*Draw clock faces or cut them out of sheets of card or paper in different colours. Then decorate them with patterns or illustrate them with symbols of day and night, like sun or stars. You could draw or cut out 4 or 5 clocks each with the clock hands drawn at different times of day, and illustrate each with pictures of what you connect with that time of day.
Nature
*Follow the day’s progress by noticing how the shadow cast by a tree or bush changes angle as the Earth turns and the sun moves across the sky, or how the sun shines into the house at different angles.
*Try planting some vegetable seeds, or some tree seeds (an acorn maybe, or a conker) in a container on a warm windowsill indoors. Notice how long they take to germinate and begin to grow.
*Look at a twig and count the girdle scars along the twig across its width to work out the age of the twig – each scar marks a year as it is the site of a year’s main bud.
*On a walk, in the garden or through an open window, be quiet for one minute or for five minutes and see how many sounds you can hear. I have just done this and heard rooks cawing, the wind gusting through bare trees, and a clock ticking!
COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW 2-15 November 2020
The third theme for Medley’s Creative Ideas is COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW. As the days and nights become colder and darker, I know I like to see some bright colours as a counterbalance. And a rainbow is a sign of hope. Would you like to share how you get on with the Creative Ideas on Medley’s new Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002? Thank you!
MUSIC
Colour’s so important that many song titles or pieces of music feature different colours, as do one or two musicians’ names! Search and listen, or try playing along, or clapping or dancing. Sing along to the songs, or listen while you try one of the art or nature activities.
*Somewhere Over The Rainbow Judy Garland
*The Rainbow Song (“Red and yellow and pink…I can sing a rainbow”)
*Mr Blue Sky ELO
*Blue Suede Shoes Elvis Presley
*Rhapsody In Blue George Gershwin
*The Green, Green Grass of Home
*Greensleeves Henry VIII (attributed)
*Yellow Submarine The Beatles
*Any Dream Will Do (Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat) Lloyd Webber
*Any song by Pink or by Simply Red
ART
*Try drawing with a black pen on different colour papers. Or cut out silhouettes or shapes in bright colour papers and display them on a black sheet.
*Draw a scene or an object (maybe the view from your window, a plant or a chair or ornament) in pencil or black pen, and then try painting the scene or object in colour. Compare the two, see how the pencil or pen drawing needs shading to create the impression of 3D.
*Draw some outlines of balloons or even hot air balloons and decorate them with different colours and patterns.
*Let your imagination fly – paint trees and other plants in colours you would never see in nature!
*Attach some ribbons or long pieces of fabric in different colours to each other at one end and weave them together to make colourful garlands or scarves.
*Look at a colour wheel and experiment with painting in complementary colours or in primary or secondary colours.
*Paint what you see when you look through a kaleidoscope.
NATURE
*Either go for a colour walk or look at the colours in the garden or use your imagination to think what colours you might still see at this time of year. Even now you could see many different shades of colour.
*Think of one colour and list as many examples of that colour in nature as you can think of, for example for white, a swan or a daisy, or for turquoise, a dragonfly or a kingfisher.
*Plant some later spring bulbs in as many different shades of colour as you can find
*Imagine planting a colour-themed garden bed or windowbox. It might feature plants all of one colour, or in two contrasting colours, or in all colours of the rainbow, or else vegetables grown as much for their colours as for eating.
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TREES AND LEAVES 19 Oct-1 November
The second theme for Medley’s Creative Ideas is Trees And Leaves, as leaves tint and fall and trees grow barer.
Trees become so familiar that maybe this is an opportunity to look at them differently.
Music
Search and listen. You might like to sing along to the songs, or clap or mark time. You could listen to the songs and music while looking at a tree or some leaves, either through a window or outside. Or listen while you try one of the art activities. If you play a musical instrument yourself then you might like to find the sheet music and play, or improvise your own version to the music.
Maple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin, the “King” of Ragtime
Autumn Leaves Nat King Cole or Eva Cassidy
Blowing In The Wind Bob Dylan
Falling Leaves of Autumn Debbie Wiseman
Art
- Try drawing outline leaf shapes for different tree species: maybe the large leaves of a sycamore or the narrow leaflets of rowan.
- You could use these outline shapes to make your own leaf stencils from card. Then paint in the stencils, either in traditional autumn leaf colours or else use your imagination and paint fantasy leaves in any colour of the rainbow. Use them to make a mural. Or draw a tree and then place your different leaf shapes on the branches to make a fantasy tree.
- You could also use your leaf shapes to make leaf chains, or cut them out of tissue paper to make a leaf mobile to sway in a breeze.
- Experiment with a themed painting on one tree species: paint or draw the tree’s silhouette shape, a twig, a leaf, the tree’s fruit or seeds (like an acorn) and any flowers or blossom (like a catkin).
- Make a leaf rubbing by laying a piece of paper over a leaf (veins uppermost) and rubbing a crayon over the paper so the leaf’s shape and form are seen. Or try a bark rubbing: hold a piece of paper against a tree trunk and rub over it with a crayon to reproduce the bark’s pattern on the paper.
Nature
- Look how colourful autumn leaves stand out against a bright, cloudless sky, but also how they lighten even an overcast day.
- Listen to all the sounds: how the wind whispers or roars through different kinds of tree; how fallen leaves stir, rustle or shiver in the breeze; and how rain patters more loudly onto leaves when they first fall but then silently as they become sodden underfoot.
- See how some trees become bare before others, look out for the last leaves to fall and how they stand out when they are the last leaves left in a hedge.
- As leaves fall and trees become bare, notice what different shapes tree silhouettes of different species have. Notice ivy growing on the tree trunks or amidst a bare hedge, which you might have overlooked before. And notice different bark colours and patterns, like a silver birch’s white bark.
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SPACE October
The theme is Space, to mark World Space Week which runs from 3-10 October.
Space conjures up freedom to explore, new perspectives. It is elemental, exciting, awesome.
MUSIC
Search and listen. If you play a musical instrument, you might like to play the pieces or songs yourself, or improvise to the music. You could sing along. You might like to listen, play or sing as you look at the night sky, through the window maybe or in your garden (quietly!)
The Planets (Gustav Holst)
Moon River
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles, later cover by Elton John)
Sing To The Moon (Laura Mvula)
Star Wars film scores (John Williams)
ART
*Cut star shapes out of colourful paper and display on black paper or cloth
*Try making a solar system or space mobile, with planet, star, sun and moon shapes. You could use papers in different colours or in gold and silver. Make holes in the top of each shape to tie string or ribbon through, and tie them somewhere where they will turn in a draft and catch the light.
*Cut star shapes out of felt or other material and embroider them or paint or draw patterns on them with fabric paint or marker pens.
*Experiment by painting the night sky in different media – acrylics for a bold, striking painting, or watercolours for misty atmosphere.
*Try a detailed pen or pencil drawing of the solar system, labelling the planets.
*Make a word picture on a space theme. With colour pens or pencils, write down words which come to mind when you think of outer space, like planet, meteorite or astronaut.
*Try photographing the night sky.
NATURE
Spend time looking at the night sky. Compare the impenetrable darkness of an overcast night with the bright clarity of moonlight: there should be a new moon by the 13th of October here in the UK
Look at the shadows and reflections cast by moonlight.
See how moonlight filters through a tree’s leaves or bare branches.
Look at the moon on a misty night, when hazy clouds half-obscure it or pattern the sky.
Look out for satellites. These can actually be seen more easily with the naked eye than with a telescope – look out when dusk falls.
Medley 