Surreal activities

Drawing, writing, randomness, surrealism: unlock your mind with these lo-fi activities – fun for children and adults alike!

Most of these activities use tools that you should be able to find at home.

Surrealism began in Europe in the 1920s. Surreal means ‘above reality’, and it reflects the surrealists’ desire to transcend the rational world – a world turned upside down by World War I.

Surreal activity: Draw without thinking

Free your unconscious mind by creating an artwork without using your eyes.

A painting that has been divided into equal-sized pieces and rearranged

Surreal activity: Remix a favourite artwork

Cut up and rearrange a picture to make a new mind-bending artwork.

An image made up of three separate images, of a fish body with bird legs and a woman’s head

Surreal activity: Invent a creature with friends

Create a fantastical creature with your friends or whānau. The results willl be strange, funny, and unpredictable!

Close up of three rubbings, showing the texture of the item rubbed against

Surreal activity: Rub a new artwork into life

Discover the textures of different kinds of surfaces then use them to create a landscape or seascape.