Arts and Crafts Ideas

Think about what a perfect summer’s day in Edinburgh looks like to you, and collage it! You could use flyers, magazines, printed pictures from the internet or from your camera, and you can draw, paint or write over and around your collage.

Once you have finished, take one idea from your piece and try to make it happen today.

Find a box (such as an old shoe box or cardboard box) and decorate it. You could choose to do this by glueing on flyers, newspapers, scraps of fabric, or using paint or pens. It’s a great opportunity to get creative.

Once you have finished decorating, fill it with your favourite things.

This could include things like tea, a favourite snack, a book you love, photographs that bring up great memories, positive affirmation cards or notes to remind yourself of what makes you happy, or other nice things to do.

Tuck the box away, and save it for when you need a little pick me up to brighten up your day.

Colouring is proven to be a fantastic stress-buster for some people. Working around intricate designs can be the right amount to keep your mind occupied without being too stressful or taxing. Creating something without pressure, and with boundaries to work to, can help you relax and unwind. It can also be a comforting return to childhood – grab some crayons and get colouring!

Creative writing can be a great way to improve your mental health. It helps you find new ways to express yourself through imagery, language, and connections, and to get a different angle on your feelings.

Why not try writing your own poem about something you’ve experienced at the festivals, or something new you learnt?

Writing can be intimidating if you haven’t done it before. If the blank page is staring at you, here are some ideas to try:

• Play with words: Don’t worry about meaning – pick a word at random and think of words which go well with it. Maybe they start with the same letter, or rhyme, or just sound good together. Try and make a sentence or phrase which feels good to write or say – and then explore what you think it means.
• Ask questions. Pick something around you – maybe an item near you, a building on the horizon, or a sound you can hear through the window. Describe it, and be as specific as you can. What does it look like? Sound like? What would it be like to touch or taste it? Why is it there? Has it always been there, and will it stay? How does it make you feel to think about?
• Start with a phrase that appeals to you: Flip through the Fringe guide and the flyers you’ve collected until you find a title that feels beautiful or intriguing, or pick a song lyric or line from a play. Think about the ideas it brings up for you, and build from there.
• Rewrite something you love. Maybe there’s a poem that’s special to you, a story you love, or a line from a play which has really resonated with you. Think about what it is that interests you, and write it in your own words.
• Play with a new poetic form: Sometimes, like with colouring in, it can be really helpful to have some structure and boundaries to help you experiment. There are hundreds of ‘poetic forms’ in the world – rules for making a specific kind of poem. Forms can include rules about the length and number of lines, the rhyme scheme, what’s repeated or removed, and even the subject of the poem. You could try anything from a haiku (a poem about nature using 3 lines of 5, 7, then 5 syllables) to a couplet (two lines of any length which rhyme) to a villanelle (a 6-verse poem which repeats the same few lines, changing their meanings through context). Focusing on how you can make words fit into the structure can help you feel less self-conscious or worried about what you want to say. Here’s a list of over 160 poetic forms. Why not pick one at random and trying it out?

You can also create with friends. Make a game out of it. Each of you invent a character who’s totally unlike you. Give them a funny voice and a unique way of talking or moving, so there’s a clear, visible difference between you and your character. Mix it up a little – maybe you’re characters from a book or TV show you both enjoy, goblins exploring the human city, fancy gentlemen out on the town, supervillains plotting against the world, or the ghosts haunting a building you’re in.

Imagine what your character would think, feel and notice that you yourself might not. Don’t think too hard about it – say whatever feels like a fun or silly response, and let it build on itself. When you do this with someone else, you can build a whole world around your character.

Playing a character can help you get out of your own head, and it can even help you support each other through stressful situations by distracting you and making you laugh. When you’re in character, you can get a bit of distance to express things that you see or feel in ways that don’t feel too real or overwhelming.

Playing pretend is a form of creative expression which most of us enjoy in childhood, but we often feel less free to do as we grow. As adults, we often take art so seriously that we may not give our imagination free rein.

A word of caution – when you’re playing with other people, you should still be mindful of how they feel. It needs to stay fun, not heavy or threatening. But if you’re with people you trust, and in a situation where it won’t disrupt things, giving yourself permission to play can be a huge benefit to your mental health.