Art therapy exercises in working with the family

1. “Family portrait”. Realistic, symbolic, abstract depiction of family members.
A. Draw family members as animals or objects.
b. Depict family members and make up dialogues between them.
V. Choose illustrations from magazines that remind you of the family and the relationships between its members.
d. Create a 3D representation of family members.
2. “Joint action”. Image of family members in the process of joint activities.
A. Picture yourself in the role you play in the family.
b. Draw a plan of your apartment or house, complete with pictures of your family members doing something.
3. “Relations between Children and Parents”. The group is divided into pairs, depicting the game of parents and children. First, one of the partners, depicting the “parent”, creates a drawing for the other, depicting the “child”. Then the “child” directs the actions of the “parent” who creates a drawing for the “child”.
4. “Family Themes”. Draw yourself with a member of your family, or draw a family event (wedding, birth, holiday, etc.).
5. “Emotional Portraits”. Partners (family members) draw portraits of each other in a certain emotional state. Then they pass the drawings to each other for correction. Everyone makes his image the way he would like to see himself.
6. “This moment”. Family members depict the family situation at the moment, and then how they would like it to be.
7. “Most Important Things” Each family member draws what is most important to him at the moment. The drawings are then discussed together.
8. “Family problems”. Each family member depicts a family problem (eg alcoholism, illness, unemployment, etc.) and how it affects his life.
9. “Incomplete family”. Each family member depicts in a drawing or collage the positive and negative aspects associated with an incomplete family.
10. “Joint family drawing”. The whole family draws something on a large sheet of paper or creates a composition using other materials. Sometimes this is preceded by a discussion of the topic of the work. It concludes with a discussion of the dynamics of the process of creating collaborative composition, in which family roles and relationships are analyzed.
Nazarevich Victoria ©