Nature study is a big part of our homeschool. We love to be outside and learn from our environment. I think it is one of the best ways for little ones to learn, and I always discover something new during our nature walks as well.
For our nature walks and studies we usually do some identifying with field guides and we may make some notes in our nature journals or draw some pictures. One of my children’s favorite ways to interact with nature, though, is to collect things they find and make something beautiful out of those things. It lends itself to learning because as they collect their treasures we can talk about what it is and look it up in our field guides. When we walk our own property, they can collect whatever they want at any time of year. When we walk in parks we have a rule that we can only take whatever is already off of the plant, and even then we try to take very little. The best time of year to do this is in the Fall, not only is the weather beautiful, but so many trees and shrubs are surrendering their leaves and this provides endless opportunities for creativity with the foliage. My favorite way to do nature art is to create something right where we found all of the items, then take a photo, and leave the items there in the park or forest where they were found. My children are ok with leaving their precious art behind if we have a photo as a way to remember it.
I have four daughters, they never tire of crafting. Here are some reasons why nature crafts are my favorite kinds of crafts for them to do.
The supplies are free!
You may need some scissors or glue or string but these items cost very little. Even if you only have a small backyard I promise you can find some supplies for nature art if you look closely enough.
It Fosters The Habit Of Attention
Creating something out of natural found items leads to a further interest in their surroundings and supports the habit of attention. When a child sees the world around them as a palette they are much more attentive to when the flowers bloom and when the foliage changes. They are always paying attention to their environment. This creates an outwardly driven focus, which I think is very healthy, especially for a child.
Less Mess!
Another reason I love nature art is that often times they can do the projects outside, reducing the craft mess inside. Also, just being outdoors breathing fresh air and soaking up vitamin D is healthy for them.
Better For The Environment
Another wonderful thing about nature art is that it supports a love and reverence for the environment, you don’t need a lot of glitter (which is a microplastic and terrible for the environment) or foam or other manufactured things. Nature art not only gets us in tune with the environment around us but it is also more respectful to the earth than many of the other crafts that pollute the world with their manufacture and create endless amounts of waste.
So what isn’t to love?
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Make a pretty sign for someone out of found treasures (see the Hello Fall sign above) but add a special message like “Happy Birthday”, “I Love You”, “Good Luck”, “I Miss You”, etc. Take a photo of it and text it, email it, post it to their social media, or for extra credit take a photo, frame it, and send it to them. You could also do your family name or a favorite quote and frame it to hang in your home. The possibilities are endless.
This doesn’t have words, but is an example of how to make nature art more permanent and personal. We have guinea hens and 6 people in our family, so for us this has deeper meaning beyond aesthetics. Think about how you could create a piece of nature art that has a symbolic connection to your family or as a gift for someone else. Maybe when you go to a wedding that is outdoor collect leaves or flowers and press them to make a pretty keepsake for the couple.
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Make a beautiful fall garland. Simply gather plenty of lovely fall leaves and, using a needle, carefully run a string through their centers. you can pack them tightly together or spread them out. You can also go through two different parts of the leaf to get the leaf to be flatter and create more of a banner effect. Use whatever kind of string you want or fishing line if you don’t want the string to show. Use the garland as a decoration for a window or door frame, or wrap around a lovely fall centerpiece on your kitchen table.
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Make a wreath. Wreaths are a fun way to celebrate the changing of the seasons. At any time of year there is foliage and flowers available to construct a beautiful and welcoming decoration for your front door. Secure large pieces of foliage into a circle using floral wire and then group other smaller items together and attach those throughout.
Here is a wreath we made in the Fall.
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Nut People. Find acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, or whatever you can in your area. Draw faces on them with marker. Use sticks for bodies and grasses and leaves for clothes and hair. You can try to stick the creations together with glue or just lay them out on the ground and take photo. We did this when we read the book “Little Miss Hickory” and my girls thought it was great fun.
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Draw a picture on a piece of paper and then use flower petals, seeds, grass, etc to glue on the drawing.
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Create a Fall leaf stack. See who can find the greatest variety of leaves with different colors and sizes and then arrange in a pretty stack.
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Certain leaf shapes lend themselves perfectly to drawing fun faces on. This bunch of Tulip Poplar leaves was the perfect canvas for a family of kitty cats!
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Random nature collage. This one is super easy and fun even for a very young child. Collect some nature things. Glue them on paper. That’s it!
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Arrange things in a beautiful way. Example: We have a vegetable garden. I got into a habit of taking pictures of what we harvested because it was a good way to keep a record of what we grew and it was less time consuming than writing it all down. My girls decided that a big pile of veggies was just not pretty enough so they began making designs out of them. Homeschool art class!
Even very little ones can have fun with this. My 3 year old wanted to make this basket full of our sweet potato harvest pretty, she was so proud of herself!
I hope this gave you some good ideas. I want to mention that it is not my desire to put pressure on any mom that they should have one more thing to do, we all have enough to do! Nature art should feel natural and fun, don’t run out and buy supplies or get attached to any one idea. All of the above ideas happened when I got out of my children way and just let them express themselves, maybe nature art won’t be your kids thing. Maybe it will! My hope is just that you and your child would take a walk together, notice some things, and come away feeling refreshed. Have fun out there!
