Outdoor Art Exploration
Nature has been inspiring artists for centuries. Why not take your students outside to unleash their creativity?
Recently, I asked the children, “If you didn’t have a paintbrush, what else could you paint with?” They thought of ways to paint that they had been doing inside such as finger painting, print-making and painting with an eye-dropper.
The children vote with a rock.
They were intrigued when I suggested we could paint with leaves. But first they had to choose which colors to use. A selection of their favorite colors were placed on the black mat. The children used rocks to cast their vote.
In the first round of voting, they chose black, green and yellow. We had another round to decide between blue and purple. Blue won!
Leaves found on the ground become paintbrushes.
By the way, we often vote with rocks. It’s one way I incorporate student choice into their learning. It’s also a good math link. We count the rocks and talk about more and less than.
Next, the children collected a bunch of leaves from around the outdoor learning environment.
Learning experience extension: In the coming days, we will brainstorm other natural materials we could use as paintbrushes. Perhaps the children will think of rocks, sticks, feathers, shells and nuts. We will collect the materials together and I will to encourage the children to experiment with them to create more nature-inspired works of art.
Why not head outside to let nature inspire your students today?
Everyone’s creation is unique.
