16.4 Mindful Art Activity: Iguazu Waterfalls on the Border of Argentina & Brazil

Activity: Imagine and Draw Your Special Place

In this mindful creative art activity, kids will practice using their imaginations to travel to a "special place" in their minds, that is an actual real place!

Today's visualization is: Iguazu Waterfalls, Argentina/Brazil

First, we’ll start with our Waterfall breathing practice—a simple, soothing technique to help everyone feel relaxed and centered.

Next, kids will close their eyes and listen to a guided visualization, where they'll explore a real place in their imagination.

Afterward, they'll get to draw the place they pictured in their minds, capturing all the details they saw, heard, and felt. This activity encourages creativity, mindfulness, and the joy of bringing inner worlds to life through art!

At the end, it's great to show  kids a picture of the real place so that they can then compare it to their imagination!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Hello there. Welcome to Big Belly Breathing. My name is Vanessa Hutchinson-Zegli, and I am excited to share a magical drawing activity with you today. We'll start with a moment to settle in and breathe together. And then I'll describe an incredible natural wonder for you to imagine and draw. You'll get to use your creativity and your art materials to bring this peaceful and powerful place to life on your page. Are you ready? Let's begin. Find a cozy spot in your classroom or at your desk, or even on the floor where you can relax. Maybe you want to sit tall like a tree or lean back like a hammock in the sun. Gently close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose, filling your belly like a waterfall pool. Now breathe out through your mouth. Like the mist rising into the air. Let's practice waterfall breathing together. Place your hands on your lap like calm water. As you breathe in, imagine water flowing down a rock wall. Cool, steady, strong. As you breathe out, feel the mist swirl gently around you, soft and light. Let's do that two more times. Breathe in the flow. Breathe out the mist. Again, just like that. Breathe in and breathe out. You're calm, you're steady, you're ready to explore. Now that you're totally relaxed, let's imagine one of the most breathtaking places in the world. Iguazu Falls. A magical series of waterfalls nestled deep in the jungle on the border of Argentina and Brazil. Close your eyes and picture this. You're standing on a lush jungle path, surrounded by tall trees and the sounds of tropical birds. You hear a distant rumble like the earth is whispering something exciting. As you walk forward, the sound gets louder and louder and louder. The trees open up and wow you see it. Hundreds of waterfalls tumbling down massive cliffs, side by side like a giant staircase of water. Some are tall and powerful. Others are thin and sparkling like silver threads. All around, soft mist rises into the air, and tiny rainbows float in the sunlight. You feel the cool spray on your face. You spot colorful butterflies dancing near the rocks. Maybe, maybe you see a Kowati, a curious jungle animal with a long striped tail sniffing near your feet. Above you a bright blue morpho butterfly flutters by, its wings shining in the sun. You walk carefully along a wooden path over the water. Beneath your feet the river rushes and swirls. Ahead you reach a special viewing platform called the Garganta del Diablo, or devil's throat. It's the biggest, loudest, most amazing part of the falls. The water crashes down so fast it creates clouds of mist that float all the way up to the sky. You stand there looking out across the falls. You feel the power of nature, the calm of the jungle, and the sparkle of imagination. Take a deep breath in and out. This is a place full of color, movement, and wonder. All right, now it's your turn to draw what you imagined. You can include the crashing waterfalls, the rainbows in the mist, the animals of the rainforest, and the wooden trails that wind through it all. What colors do you want to use? How will you show the movement of the water? Will you draw the butterflies, the clouds of spray, the jungle all around? Take fifteen to twenty minutes to create your Iguazu masterpiece. Use any materials you have, colored pencils, crayons, markers, paints. When you're done, you can look up real photos of Iguazu Falls and compare them to your drawing. What did your imagination show you that the real world didn't, or vice versa? Thank you for joining me on this beautiful nature-filled adventure. I can't wait to see your creations. And if you'd like to send me your artwork, I'd absolutely love that. Take big care, see you soon, and remember our BBB motto breathe, move, eat, rest, respire, bouge, mange, se reposer. Gracias. A te logo. Bye for now. Ciao.