Published September 28, 2023
31 creative prompts to spark your artistic side this Inktober
This October, your MetroParks are encouraging you to spend some time outside cultivating your creativity. Inktober – ideated nearly 15 years ago – began as a way for artists to practice their inking skills and create positive drawing habits. Inktober challenges those of all skills levels – artists and non-artists – to follow prompts to create one masterpiece a day for 31 days.
Education specialist and Paint-A-Park instructor Mary-Beth developed 31 Inktober prompts you can do at home or in your MetroParks. Be sure to tag us on social media so we can share your incredible creations.
- Visit us at Hills & Dales MetroPark from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. for Paint-A-Park to draw and paint the beautiful landscapes.
- Paint a picture of vegetables from the demonstration garden at Possum Creek MetroPark or Carriage Hill MetroPark’s historical farm.
- Explore a prairie habitat and draw your favorite plant in as much detail as you can
- Use objects you find in nature like sticks, flowers, grass or pinecones to paint with
- Draw a fossil from Germantown MetroPark
- Paint using the rain (or water) to help shape your picture (washable markers or watercolor pencils are good for this)
- Draw a picture of our animal ambassadors at the Wagner Subaru Outdoor Experience (Paint-A-Park will be in the children’s tent at 3 p.m. on Saturday)
- Make a sound map near the lagoon at Eastwood MetroPark
- Go on an insect hunt and draw pictures of what you find
- Gather acorns or other nuts and draw funny faces on them
- Get down low and see nature from the perspective of a snake slithering through the forest then draw what you see
- Make a crazy creature out of natural found objects
- Make a leaf rubbing from the trees at Sugarcreek MetroPark
- Visit Carriage Hill MetroPark and paint a picture of fall on the historical farm
- Take a pair of binoculars to Island MetroPark and draw as many birds as you can
- Draw what it would look like to see from a bat’s eyes hanging from a tree
- Find something small and draw it big
- Paint with mud
- Make different animals out of the colorful leaves
- Find a spider web and draw the spider that lives there
- Visit Fall Family Adventure at Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark and do a craft
- Trace the shadows from plants you find at Cox Arboretum MetroPark
- Paint what it would look like to see from a fish’s eyes
- Paint a scene from a MetroPark you’ve never been to before
- Draw each letter of your name as a plant or animal from your MetroParks
- Draw your favorite animal from Ohio in a funny costume
- Paint the sunset from the Possum Creek MetroPark prairie
- Go for a slow hike and draw the eyes of the animals you see — they see you too!
- Nature is everywhere — visit a cemetery and do head stone rubbings
- Make suet cakes full of bird seed and leave them out as treats for our bird friends — draw what you see and remember to take pictures!
- Draw your favorite costume you saw while trick or treating
