Use leaves and other natural elements to create a nature art project.
Combine outdoor elements with the subject of art to help students express their creativity with a nature art project. Use natural items found outdoors to create wall art and sculptures. Combine the outdoor components with simple craft materials to create compositions that both your students and their parents will love. Help students arrange the outdoor materials to create an effective and compelling design. Your whole class can take the fruits of the outdoors and bring them inside to decorate the classroom.
Nature Collage
Go on a nature walk with your whole class in a neighboring park or forest preserve. Give each student a plastic bag and let him collect fallen leaves, small stones, bark, pine cones, sticks or other small natural items. Make the walk educational by identifying the names and types of plants and trees you see. Take the items back to the classroom and give each student a sheet of poster board, glue, paint and markers. Instruct the students to use the nature items they gathered on their walk to create collages. Allow each collage to dry before handling.
Leaf Pictures
Gather together a variety of leaves in different shapes and sizes. Wipe debris and dirt from leaves. Give each student an assortment of leaves with multicolored acrylic paints, sponge brushes and a sheet of heavy card stock or poster board. Help each student arrange the leaves on the poster board to create a pleasing design. Let students paint over the leaves to create a stenciled design of leaf shapes. Remove the leaf shapes and allow the paint to dry. Paint over smaller leaves inside the larger shapes to create a compelling and interesting composition.
Seed and Bean Mosaics
Students can create a natural mosaic out of beans and seeds for wall art. Use various types of dried beans and seeds such as kidney beans, red and green lentils, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or navy beans to mix up the textures and colors within a design. Provide a sheet of thin plywood along with heavy duty glue and a pencil for each student. Tell the student to sketch a design on the board. Fill in each portion of the design with glue and pour seeds and beans onto the glue areas to fill out the design. Cover a large area with plastic sheeting before working with the dried food items for easy cleanup.
Shell Sculptures
Bring a beach atmosphere to your classroom by helping your students create sculptures out of shells. Give each student an assortment of seashells, ranging in size, texture and color. Also include a set or two of googly eyes. Help students come up with a shell arrangement depicting a simple scene or re-creating an animal. Assist students with a hot glue gun to glue their shapes into place.
