The Science of Happiness: The Color of Emotions

Could the increase in happiness be caused by simply doing something as fun as creating art? Can flexing your artistic muscles really make you happier?

To kick off the new school year, I presented a lesson that was a bit unusual for the elementary art room.  I practiced a bit of art therapy with my students to bring out their positive emotions when producing art.

 First, I asked my students to write out a list of people, places or things that made them happy or supported.  I asked them to assign a color to themselves and to each of the items on their list. They were given an outline of a body shape and were asked that they color it in with the different colors of the items on their list.  They were to begin by drawing a heart on the chest to represent themselves and work outward, using the colors of the things that they loved.

 
This activity placed them into a reflective state so then the students were invited to share their thoughts about their drawing
 with their classmates.
Here are some of their presentations.

The students were very willing to share their illustrations and describe how each color represented someone or something that was important to them.

But it was the last presentation that stole my heart.  It was performed by a sweet 2nd grade boy who shared his innermost feelings about his friends who moved away.  He stated that he missed them and missed how they supported him.