Zuzana Clark

Art and Books

doodling

What Do Animals Dream About?

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An Activity with Worksheets for Coloring and Drawing

One day Dusty met Helen. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. It was a perfect day for dreaming.

Helen and Dusty sat next to each other and were watching nature around them.

Dusty the dachshund

Then Helen asked Dusty, “What do you dream about?”

“I dream about love. Love is the most important thing for me. Then I dream about dog food and sausages,” said Dusty and licked his lips. “Sausages are so good!”

“I see,” said Helen.

“I love playing,” Dusty continued. “I dream about my chew toys. And I dream about socks.”

“About socks?” asked Helen.

“Yes, I have a collection of them. I hide my socks under the bed and make them prettier by making holes in them,” Dusty explained. “One day, I’m going to open a sock museum.”

“I’m looking forward to visiting it,” Helen smiled. “What is your favorite place to dream, Dusty?”

“I like dreaming on my cushion,” said Dusty. “It’s so nice and soft!”

“Cushions are a nice place to dream on,” Helen agreed.

“And what about you, Helen?” Dusty asked his tiny friend. “What do you dream about?”

“I dream about a big piece of cheese,” said Helen.

“Yeah, cheese is also pretty good,” said Dusty as his mouth started watering again.

“The piece I dream about has lots of holes and smells delicious. And best of all, it’s magic!”

“Magic?” Dusty asked.

“Yes, when you nibble off a piece, it grows back. You never run out of cheese. There’s plenty of it for everyone.”

“I like this cheese,” said Dusty.

Helen continued dreaming, “I also dream about the sun, about tall soft grass, about tasty sunflower seeds, and about buttons. I like buttons.”

“They are too small for me,” said Dusty.

“You know what? I also dream about a big spool of thread. I could run on it with Jane. We would have loads of fun,” said Helen. She loved her twin sister.

“I could push the spool a bit with my nose and make it roll faster,” Dusty suggested.

“That would be great!” said Helen and clapped her paws.

“And what do you think other animals dream about?” Dusty wondered.

“I don’t know,” said Helen and scratched her head.

What do you think? What do other animals dream about? Do they dream about food all the time? Do you think animals have nightmares? If you could become an animal for one day, what animal would you choose?

What does a snail, a fish, a cat, a hedgehog, a frog, or a bird dream about? Color the pictures and draw their dreams!

You can download the printable worksheets in PDF here:

Worksheets Animals DreamDownload

Art Game with Cards

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Cards

This game is meant for both kids and adults, parents, art teachers, artists of all kinds, tired people after a long day at work who want to relax, and everyone who wants to have fun and loves drawing and painting.

I would love to see your results:-)

Your task is to make a picture using five items you pick out.

First, you make your cards. There are five groups of them:

Animals

Activities

Objects

Food and Drinks

Miscellaneous (a mixture of animals, activities, things to eat and drink, and objects).

For each group, I made 20 cards. That means 100 cards in total, which is a lot of cutting. But it is said that cutting paper has a soothing effect:-)

You can download my cards in PDF here:Download

This game can be varied. You can use my list of items, add your own cards, or make up a completely new list.

When your cards are ready to use, you draw one card from each group. These are your items. Make a picture using all five of them.

Here are 5 important rules to follow:

Rule #1 Technique

You can use any technique you like. You may choose a pencil, watercolors, colored pencils, wax crayons, pen and ink, markers, or you can make a picture in sand using a stick. It’s up to you. It doesn’t matter whether you make your picture on a sheet of paper or a napkin. Feel free to use any surface you please. Just make sure you are allowed to draw on it. (Making doodles on walls and furniture probably isn’t a good idea).

Rule #2 Time and place

It’s not important where or when you make your picture. You can create it outdoors on a sunny day, indoors on a rainy day, in your favorite armchair, in your least favorite rickety chair, in the grass, under a cherry tree, on the beach, or at your desk. It is highly recommended not to make your picture inside a cage with a lion or in water with an alligator swimming around.

Rule #3 Silliness

The crazier your picture gets, the better. The animals don’t have to be the only ones to do the activities. Why couldn’t a tomato play tennis? Why couldn’t a paperclip wear a tiny hat? Why couldn’t a pillow eat a rice dish with chopsticks? You don’t even have to respect sizes. An elephant can be tiny and a bug huge. A button can be bigger than a watermelon. Why not? It’s your world and you are the one who makes the rules.

Rule #4 Adding other items

Your picture can be made by using only the five items you pick. But as long as you use all your five items, you can add anything else to your picture. Remember, you are the boss.

Rule #5 Have fun

This is the most important rule. Enjoy your time playing this game, unleashing your creativity, and trying out new things.

For my pictures, I have used these items:

GROUP 1 Animals: a duck, a cat, a dog, an anteater, a rabbit, a crocodile, a tiger, a swan, a mole, a fish, a seal, a flamingo, an owl, a whale, a bear, a snake, a snail, an elephant, a lion, a giraffe

GROUP 2 Activities: reading, painting, flying in a hot-air balloon, watching birds, swimming, drinking milk, playing tennis, dancing, cooking, eating with chopsticks, decorating a cake, ice skating, singing, making footprints, building a sandcastle, sleeping, dreaming, skiing, wearing a hat, running

GROUP 3 Objects: a button, a car, a scarf, a pencil, a rug, a key, a paper boat, a guitar, a paperclip, an armchair, a doll, a ring, a fork, an umbrella, a shoe, a bottle, a pillow, a ladder, a glove, a toothbrush

GROUP 4 Food and Drinks: a pineapple, an apple, a potato, a banana, an orange, a cucumber, a teabag, chocolate, spaghetti, a watermelon, a carrot, ice cream, a lemon, a plum, cherries, candy, rice, beans, coffee, grapes

GROUP 5 Miscellaneous: a dinosaur, a dragon, a ball of thread, a slug, a lamp, a sock, a tomato, a beetle, a dragonfly, a butterfly, making soap bubbles, grass, a tree, a mountain, a jar, a starfish, jumping, a snowman, a cookie, a flower

I have played three rounds of this game. This is what I got:

1.

  • A FLAMINGO
  • DECORATING A CAKE
  • A PLUM
  • A BUTTON
  • A DRAGONFLY
art game with cards

2.

  • A WHALE
  • FLYING IN A HOT-AIR BALLOON
  • BEANS
  • A RUG
  • A BEETLE
art game with cards

3.

  • A FISH
  • SWIMMING
  • A LEMON
  • A KEY
  • A SNOWMAN
art game with cards

About Drawing and Painting

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I have been drawing and painting since I was a child. I don’t really think there is a strict borderline between drawing and painting. They are complementary and should go together like peas and carrots. I like using watercolors, gouache, ink, and colored pencils.

I don’t like when colored pencils give me a headache, break during each stroke, and need sharpening all the time. Here I must pet my colored pencils and remind them that I like them. My colored pencils are rugged and fight bravely on the paper battlefield. I have a lot of fun with them and often use them with colored paper.

Ink drawing is also fun. At least before I sneeze and there are ink spots all over the paper and far beyond. But fortunately, it’s possible to use these spots to my advantage. They have different shapes resembling strange creatures or alien spaceships. And so even sneezing can be a source of inspiration.

My favorites are probably watercolors. I use them most of the time. The thing I like about them is that you never know how the painting will develop. You never know how the watery spots will turn out. There is always a surprise waiting for you. This makes working with watercolors exciting. The unpredictable spots make many different shapes. You can look for many different things in them. It’s like looking at clouds in the sky. You can see chubby sheep with curly wool, dragons with majestic wings, or ancient temples high in the mountains. You can also see things in watercolor spots. Some look like kidneys, some look like kidney beans, and some look like coffee beans. I get a lot of kidneys and beans.

I particularly like creating small things and details. Each millimeter matters. And that’s why I have to use appropriate paintbrushes. The relationship with my paintbrushes is very important. I have to rely on them. Each one develops in time. I like using very thin brushes, but after some time the brush becomes a little bit blunt. Then I start using a brand new thin brush. But his predecessor can still be useful. He is promoted to a different role. Instead of tiny dots, he makes a little bit bigger spots. Instead of whiskers, he paints mouse tails. Sometimes I take a pair of scissors and give my paintbrushes a haircut. I sharpen them up. They regain their pointed tips and I can use them for delicate lines again. But over time, my brushes have fewer and fewer bristles. Contact with paper and stroking against it is a tough job. Eventually, my paintbrushes lose all their bristles. Then it’s time to say goodbye.

While I paint, I usually have a cup of coffee on my table. Sometimes I dip my brush right into my coffee. I think I have done it more times than I have actually noticed. I think that everybody who likes drinking coffee while painting has probably tasted coffee with a tiny amount of paint. When I work on oil paintings though, I make sure my coffee cup is placed on a different table than my jar of turpentine. I think coffee with turpentine flavor wouldn’t be the right thing for me.

WARNING! Do not try sticking your paintbrush into beverages on purpose, otherwise, a hairy monster comes and bites your toes. He will be envious of your blue, green, or purple tongue.

The Monster

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