Art for Any Day by Fiona Willis

In honour of Mother's Day today here in Perth, I've decided to do something a little different. My amazing Mum has self-published her very own art book for children and I thought I would do a little spotlight on it.

'Art for Any Day contains a 34 creative activities for children aged 4-12, designed to bring out the artist in all of us. It is for children, teachers, parents, grandparents, babysitters or anyone who’d love to have a go themselves. The artworks contained in this book are ‘tried and true’ activities that have been completed by primary school aged children either in the classroom or one-to-one, with some samples by the author as well. Whether you enjoy painting, papier-mache, sculpture, crayon work, collage or block printing, paper play, charcoal sketching, wirework, materials or clay, you will find it in this book. So, put on the art shirt and let the artist in you come out and play!'

Each activity has an age recommendation, time frame, a list of materials (many of which can be found lying around the house), a blurb with information about the activity and the inspiration behind it and step-by-step instructions accompanied by photographs. Many of the activities also have handy hints, pitfalls, variations and activity extensions.

While I am rather biased towards this title for obvious reasons, I personally did a number of the activities in this book when I was in primary school (some of my work is even featured) and I have also watched from the sidelines as kids, who never had any faith that they had a creative bone in their body, have created amazingly beautiful, fun, and exciting pieces.

Some of my favourite activities are the Absurd Animals, the Bottle People, Cardboard Characters, Creative Critters, Silhouette Scenes and the Palm Masks.

For more information, including sample activities, or to buy a copy, visit the Art for Any Day website by clicking here.