December 2021 - Marble Emotions Therapeutic Art Making Intervention
Finding creative therapy interventions can be so difficult! That is why I have created a library of creative interventions so that any therapist can easily find interventions to do with their clients. Please keep in mind the importance of the terminology you are using with these interventions! Art Therapy interventions are done by a trained and registered Art Therapist. Luckily, all of these interventions are appropriate for any clinician to use as Therapeutic Art Making interventions! All of the interventions found in my Creative Intervention Library are art activities perfect for therapy sessions. Most of the interventions also have a telehealth modification for those of us who are still seeing clients virtually. Every month, I post a new creative intervention for you to use. Looking for more? For the price of a cup of coffee per month, you can get access to a second creative intervention as well as access to the entire library catalog of previous months.
This intervention is a great way to have a visual representation about how complicated our emotions can be! It has many uses and it is an object a client can take with them and display on their own if they would like. If you try this out yourself, l would love to see photos of it!
Please note, If you do take any photos of client’s art work, make sure you have a consent form signed for this. I have a Consent to Photograph Artwork Created in Therapy Sessions Form in my products if you need one for your practice. Even with therapeutic art making, it is ethically necessary to have this consent form signed. Also make sure to remove any identifying information from any art work before photographing it, such as names or signatures.
I offer personalized intervention ideas in the clinical consultation and supervision I provide as well! When I work one on one with clinicians, I love being able to create specific interventions tailored to each client and their presenting concerns. Feel free to reach out with any questions to see if creative supervision and consultation would be a good fit for you and your practice!
Process Video:
Age range: 5+
Diagnosis: Any
Supplies Needed:
A marble or bead
Multiple colors of acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Shoe box top or box
Egg carton, paint pallet, muffin tin, another box top, or anything to put paint in
Plain paper
Uses: Discussing and naming emotions, emotional regulation, understanding emotions
Artistic skills needed: None!
Instructions:
Start by having your client share a few emotions that they have been feeling. Ideally you want them to pick two or more. It can be helpful to have a feelings wheel here if they need help naming emotions!
Next, ask them to assign a color to each emotion from the paint colors you have available. I often like to as them why they picked each color as a follow up as well for additional insight into their decision making!
In a separate box, egg carton, paint pallet, muffin tin, or anything to put paint in (I used a muffin tin in the process video) put a few drops of each paint color that they chose
Have the client drop the bead or marble into the first color of their choice to coat it in paint
Using a paint brush to push the bead/marble around can help keep hands cleaner
Place a piece of plain paper in your other box top or box. This is used to keep the bead or marble contained and to avoid it falling onto the table or floor.
Have the client take their paint coated bead or marble and drop it onto the piece of paper in the box top
Encourage the client to shake the box top around to move the bead/marble and leave trails of paint
Re-coat the marble/bead as needed in paint until the client feels that the emotion is represented well on the page
Repeat this with all colors chosen by the client to create different colored trails of paint
You can wipe off the bead or marble when you need to change paint colors if you don’t have multiples. Acrylic paint should easily come off, but a wipe or water can be used if needed as well!
After the client has put all of the colors on the page, have them observe the marks that have been made. I point out here that even though they had control of the movements they were making with the box top, the bead/marble might not have gone exactly where they wanted it to go. I also point out that some of the paths and colors crossed over each other and might have even blended the colors together at some points. This is a great way to have a visual representation of how complicated emotions can be, how different emotions can blend together at times or cross paths, and how emotions can also take unexpected turns.
The paint might take some time to dry, depending on how coated the bead/marble was so this might need to dry until the next session, or you can use a hairdryer to speed up any drying time. I encourage clients to put this somewhere where it will be a visual reminder about emotions if they want to take it with them once it is dry.
