Hello everyone, I’ve started this directory page on my blog as a service for authors and illustrators who are offering free online creative activities and resources for children and/or adults. Using the contact form on this blog, https://firebirdfeathers.com/contact/, send me your link and up to 10 words about it and I’ll post it on this page. Let me know if the activity/resource is for kids or for adults or both, and what four basic categories it falls into: a/writing activity/resource; b/art/illustration activity resource; c/video presentations (storytelling, talks, book etc) d/audio presentations or podcasts(ditto) or e/a mix of the above!

UPDATE: Happy to list music activities and resources too.

Children’s and YA activities(some suitable for adults too)

Mixed activities and resources:

Writing activities:

Shannon Jade at Wildflower Books is offering a free downloadable picture-book writing template for children and adults to enjoy.

Author Lian Tanner offers free story prompts and activities to spark the imagination. https://liantanner.com.au/free-stuff/

Illustration/art activities:

Sandy Flett’s Kids’ Art School, on You Tube

Illustrator Lou Endicott’s fun activity on Facebook, Draw A Portrait, suitable for children and adults

Watch Ruth Waters’ You Tube videos showing how she creates her collages for picture books.

Author-illustrator Gabrielle Wang’s ‘Sparks’ site where you can upload your own pictures sparked off by one of hers.

Audio presentations:

Listen to the full digital audio book of Sophie Masson’s picture book with David Allan, Two Trickster Tales from Russia (Christmas Press 2013).

Read or listen to some of  Sophie Masson’s stories on Read Me A Story, Ink (Sophie’s stories available via this link on her blog)

Video presentations:

Picture books inspiration and process(for children and adults), a free pre-recorded illustrated talk by Sophie Masson

Writing and publishing for children and young adults in Australia, (for children and adults) by Sophie Masson, on her You Tube channel, which also has book trailers, etc.

Virtual storytime presentation at New England Regional Art Museum of Sophie Masson and Kathy Creamer’s picture book, Join the Armidale Parade, plus art activities by Kathy, centred around the book.

Deborah Abela’s video talks and book trailers.

Simon Higgins’ book/author videos and links to animations he’s worked on.

Author and photographer Jan Latta’s educational videos about endangered wildlife are available free on her website here.

Louise Park is reading a chapter a day of her latest book, Grace’s Secret ,on her Youtube channel here.

Oliver Phommavanh and Kristin Darell (and other great authors, along with James Foley, illustrating), are conducting writing workshops on the Little scribe facebook here.

Debra Tidball reads The Scared Book with a puppet friend  – the perfect book to help kids recognise and manage their own fears in these worrying times, and a great starting point for discussion. Find it here.

Anne Donnelly’s short videos about sea creatures and environmental issues that go along with her Ori The Octopus picture book series, perfect for preschoolers, on her website here.

Activities and resources for adults:

Creative writing:

Sophie Masson’s regular series of posts on writing subjects on Writer Unboxed.

Illustration/art activities:

Audio presentations:

An interview with me in April 2020, conducted by Kel Butler, marking the 30 years since my first two books were published, available here at the Writes 4 Women podcast series.

Video presentations:

Blurring the lines: authors and publishers in the small press sector in Australia: brief virtual presentation for the Seventeenth International Conference on Books, Publishing and Libraries, held in Granada, Spain, July 5 2019.