Art Using Natural Materials

Using natural materials in the outdoors can present great opportunities for children to be creative.See also Trailblazer Activity Sheets: Dreamcatchers, Flower Pressing, Hapa Zome Bunting, Leaf Activities, Tree Faces for other activities.

Natural Paints Use natural materials to make natural paint.

You will need: pestle and mortar, small plastic bowls and lidded containers, water, old tea strainer or sieve, paper and old paintbrushes.

Collect a variety of natural things such as berries, (eg elderberries, blackberries, rowan berries, sloes, etc) flowers (eg dandelions, buttercups, rose petals, etc), fruit, charcoal, different coloured clays and soils, grass and leaves etc.

Safety tips: Make dyes only from berries of non-poisonous plants. Use a field guild to identify plants you don’t know. Make sure the children wash their hands thoroughly when they’ve finished.

Place one raw material at a time in the mortar and grind with the pestle, adding water to achieve the desired consistency.

Ask the children whether the extracted colour is what they were expecting! For a smooth paint, pass the mixture through a tea strainer or sieve. You could add a small amount of flour to help thicken the paint up a bit, if it

is on the runny side. PVA glue can also be added. Use the paint to decorate leaves, bark or tree trunks or to mark a trail. You

could take some of it back to the classroom in lidded containers so the children can paint with it on paper.

You can also make natural paint brushes by tying pine needles, small fir branches, or dried grasses onto small sticks.

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Flower and Leaf Printing

You will need:Poster paint, stamp pads (eg make your own form pieces of upholstery foam cut to fit into some old plastic food trays), paper (eg sugar paper), a collection of leaves and flowers.

Prepare the stamp pads by putting some poster paint onto the foam and allowing it to soak into the foam pad.

Press the flowers and leaves onto the foam pads to become covered in paint.

Then press the flowers and leaves onto the paper to make prints and pictures as required.

Variation: Try this activity using Natural Paints.

MandalasMandala is a Sanskrit word which means circle. A mandala is a complex abstract design that is usually circular in form and generally has one identifiable centre point, from which emanates an array of symbols, shapes and forms. Mandalas can contain both geometric and organic forms. They can also contain recognizable images that carry meaning for the person who is creating it.

You will need: a variety of natural materials eg stones, sticks, shells, leaves, berries, pine cones etc.

The mandala may be based on a theme eg beach (using pebbles, shells, seaweed, etc) or be more open-ended.

Children can work individually, in pairs or small groups. Find a flat surface such as a patch of grass, woodland floor or playground to

be the canvas. It is best to choose a centre point and work your way out. You could use

symmetry. Don’t forget to take a photo!

Variation: Make a mandala by printing with natural materials.

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Make a Loom for Wild WeavingUsing a weaving square or loom is a great activity to do with children as it can help develop dexterity as well as using outdoor materials.

You will need: 4 straight sticks; raffia, string or wool; natural materials to weave through (eg grass, leaves, feathers etc.)

Lash four straight sticks together to make a square, then tie string or wool across the square.

Children can then weave natural materials through their loom. Look to use different textures and colours. Tie on other materials such as pine cones etc.

Variations: Try making a different shaped loom eg a triangle. Use a forked stick as a loom.

Nature Frame

Create your own picture frame out of 4 sticks. Children can either observe what is in the frame

that they have made or fill the frame with interesting objects they have found, or even make a picture out of natural materials.

Name PlateYou will need: natural materials eg leaves, feathers, stalks etc, pencil, card, glue. Children write their name on the card by sticking on the

natural materials. For younger children you may want to write their name in

pencil and they can stick the natural objects on using the glue.

Originally published in the September 2015 issue of FamilyFun magazine

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Sticky Cards / Sticky Crowns / Sticky Bracelets

Sticky cards are a great way to go outside, explore and notice how textures and colours change with the seasons.

You will need: Card with strips of double-sided sticky tape on them, one for each child. The card will need to be long enough for what you have decided to make.You will need to peel off the tape at the start of the session.

Children collect items and stick them onto the card. You could give them a theme eg a colour, smell, texture, beautiful things,

etc. Children can then talk about their cards and why they collected the items

they did.

If turning the cards into crowns, be careful with long hair, which can also stick to the card!

You can also laminate the cards to make into bookmarks.

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Nature Mobiles Children can look for natural items that appeal to them

(or you could give them an adjective such as ‘rough’, or a colour) and they collect appropriate objects and tie them on string to form a natural mobile.

They could arrange their items in size order, order of preference etc and then share their thoughts with a friend.

https://www.sensorytrust.org.uk/resources/creative-activities/nature- mobiles-sensory-trust.pdf

Sensory WindowsYou will need: some windows cut out from card, either your own shapes or use large stencils (eg of animals) to cut out a hole.

Children can then ‘fill’ the window with natural materials, or choose somewhere to place the window.

You could have a focus on texture or colour or let the children decide how to fill the window.

They can then share how and why they filled their window with the group.

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Clay Imprints of Plants and FlowersYou will need: clay, plastic table cloth or board, rolling pin, flowers and leaves, skewer, paint and paint brushes.

Roll out a chunk of clay until it is flat. Place the leaf or flower onto the clay and roll

over it gently with the rolling pin. Pull the plant off the clay and you should see

the details imprinted in the clay If you want to add a hole so that you can hang

the clay decoration up, then use the skewer to make a hole.

Allow the clay to dry overnight. It should feel completely dry before you paint it.

Paint the leaves and flowers using poster paint. To provide greater protection, you can paint with varnish or PVA glue when

the paint has dried. Thread ribbon, string or raffia through the hole to hang the decoration up.

Preserving Autumn Leaves with Glycerine

You will need: glycerine (from the baking section or a pharmacy), water, two containers or trays that can stack together (plastic take away containers are ideal), autumn leaves.

Place the leaves in one of the containers. Mix 1 part glycerine and 2 parts water,

depending on the size of the container (eg 100ml glycerine and 200ml water).

Pour the mixture over the leaves. Stack the second container on top of the

first container so that it keeps the leaves submerged in the mixture.

Let the leaves soak for at least 3 days. Remove the leaves from the mixture and blot them dry with a

paper towel. Then let them completely dry. Use the dried leaves in craft activities, such as making an

Autumn leaf mobile.

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Websites 50 Nature Crafts for Kids

https://www.artycraftykids.com/craft/50-nature-crafts-kids

Building cairns from stones https://nurturestore.co.uk/stone-cairns-building-towers

How to Inspire Your Students with Artist Andy Goldsworthyhttps://theartofeducation.edu/2019/05/31/how-to-inspire-your-students-with-artist-andy-goldsworthy

KS2 lesson plan based on Andy Goldsworthy’s work.https://www.muddypuddles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/KS2-Awesome-Artists-Art.pdf

Use the work of these environmental artists as inspiration for the children. Judith Belzar www.judithbelzer.com Chris Drury www.chrisdrury.co.uk Andy Goldsworthy www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk Richard Long www.richardlong.org

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