10 Art Projects That Relieve Stress

While 2020 progresses, it seems to get wilder and wilder. With our already crazy lives, it doesn’t help to have the world going a little crazy. The best way to take a step back from all of this stuff is to work on an art project. Making art has been proven to relieve stress and help you feel better mentally.

Here are ten different art projects that are easy to do and will allow you to let go of your everyday stress and enjoy your time. So, sit back, relax, and get to creating!

1. Calm Down Glitter Bottles

Calm down glitter bottles are super easy and fun art projects that you can also use to relieve stress later on. Hence the “calm down” part of the name. After making one of these bad boys, shake it up and let the stress just roll right off you.

DIY Directions:

Fill a bottle a third of the way up with warm water.
Add 60ml of glitter glue to the water and stir it together.
Add three drops of food coloring and stir. You can add more drops to darken the color if you like.
Add in a glitter of your choice and stir together.
Top off the bottle with more warm water until it is almost full.
Shake and enjoy!

2. Glitter Glue Slime

The big slime buzz has kind of died down, but messing with a glitter slimeball is still super relaxing. They are really easy to make and is an art project that you can use many times later to help take some stress off. The only thing I suggest to do when you make these is to make and play with them on a clean surface, otherwise, they will get messy very easily.

DIY Directions:

In a bowl, pour in the entire amount of a 6oz Elmer’s Glitter Glue. You can choose whatever color you like.
Add in 1/2 tbsp of baking soda and mix it together.
Add 1 1/4 tbsp of contact lens solution, which can be found in many grocery stores.
Mix together until the contents begin to harden and turn into slime.

3. Paint By Number

Paint by numbers is by far one of my favorite kinds of art projects. I like to spread this project out and paint a few colors every day until I am done. It is nice after a long day of work and school to just sit and relax and focus on the painting. I kind of zone out when I paint which really relieves stress.

Just make sure when you do this that you find a comfortable spot to paint in. I’ll zone out and when I’m done for the night, I realize how sore my back is because I was hunched over the painting for so long. This is definitely an art project to invest in. Not only does it relieve stress, but you’ll have a lovely piece of art by the end of it.

Here is a link to some beautiful paint by numbers for you to enjoy.

4. Knitting

One thing that I am kind of ashamed to admit is that instead of getting outside of myself and participating in school during my first year of college, I learned how to knit and knitted scarves and watched Netflix the whole time.

However, after a long day of doing homework and stressing over classes, this was the perfect art project to just let go of some of the stress. There are so many things you can make from knitting and once you get the hang of it, it becomes pretty easy. There are many different patterns to try out. Someday, I would love to knit myself a sweater.

Here is a link to a tutorial if you are a beginner. Give it a little time, it can be frustrating at first, but you’ll get the hang of it.

5. Coloring Books

Just like paint by numbers, coloring books are a great art project to zone out for a bit and let your creative side take control. I think the purchasing of the coloring book and pencils are just as stress relieving as actually coloring.

Opening that fresh set of colored pencils and having a blank slate in front of you is so aesthetically pleasing and you’ll feel so proud of your work once it’s done!

6. Leaf Art

Did you ever have a leaf art project in elementary school? Our teacher had us go outside and pick out our favorite leaves and then we’d come back into class, put paper over them, and start coloring with a crayon. It was so cool to see the leaf pattern show up on the paper.

This art project is a great one to do if you have kids but also just to do by yourself as well. Leaves are really beautiful and this project will let you appreciate the little things in nature that you maybe don’t notice that often, like how a leaf is patterned.

There are many kinds of leaves to pick from and I suggest using crayons as they get the details a little better. Have fun!

7. Blackout Poetry

Blackout poetry is seriously such a fun art project! All you need is a book you don’t really care about and a sharpie, or any other kind of writing utensil you want to use. Open the book to a random page and just start blacking the words out, but keep the ones you want to use for a poem. It is super fun and easy and like the picture below, you can create a cool work of art out of it as well!

8. Doodle Journal

I’ve been told by a couple teachers and professors now that doodling while in class actually helps you learn more. Now don’t take that as an actual fact, but I think it is a pretty cool idea. I loved to doodle in the margins of my notebooks. I literally had millions of doodles, and I passed all of my classes, so I guess they were right!

Doodling is a great way to let you get creative and be random. The best doodles are the ones that don’t really make sense. I never had a theme to my doodles, I just drew whatever came to mind.

9. Crayon Art

This art project was a big deal when I was younger. My dad tried it out, but I don’t think he did it right because it didn’t work very well.

What you need is a canvas, old crayons you don’t use anymore, a glue gun, a tarp, and a hairdryer. Glue the crayons at the end of the canvas, make sure they all line-up. Let that dry, then, stand the canvas up so it is on its side and turn on the hairdryer. Point the hairdryer in the direction you want the crayons to melt and boom, you got yourself a piece of art! Just make sure to do this over a tarp or outside because it will get messy.

10. Mosaic

Mosaicing is an amazing art project and they are so beautiful to look at! This project takes a little more time and effort, but you can get lost in it just like any of the other projects from above. The grouting is super fun because you can make a mess of the artwork, but it will still turn out just as beautiful.

Here is a link on how to mosaic for beginners.