Do you remember how, as a child, you would craft, draw and play away for hours without any concept of time? This, in essence, is what mindfulness is: doing an activity in a relaxed state, without any time pressures, pressure to perform or any other distractions. Which is what makes crafting the perfect mindful activity! Whether it's watercolour painting, papercrafts or clay, all of these activities offer instant relaxation. In this blog, we set out the most fun and accessible craft activities that will make you all Zen.

Colouring books for adults

A simple mindful craft activity is colouring in a colouring book. There’s good reason why this activity has become a trend in our hectic modern society - it will calm you right down. All you need think about is which colours to use. Grab some felt tips, crayons or other drawing medium and get colouring. As you do, let your thoughts float away, leaving your head completely clear by the end.

Origami

The Japanese are masters of Zen. In fact, they pretty much invented it. Origami is a centuries-old technique that involves creating the most beautiful shapes from nothing more than sheets of paper, simply by folding them. Buy yourself a pack of paper to fold and search for some great shapes online or in a book. Get folding!

Zentangle

This is at once a form of art and meditation. By drawing repeated patterns and lines, you’ll astonish yourself with the pieces of art you’ll create! Use fine liners and divide your drawing paper into random tiles to fill in with different motifs. Colour in tiles or shade them in to produce the best results.

Sequin Art

Play with sequins in all the colours of the rainbow! Pin the sequins onto a figure or flat surface with numbered sections showing you which colour to pin where. A beautifully relaxing activity with - quite literally - sparkling results.