There is nothing better about summer weather than being outside and communing with nature. But more recently, kids are spending less and less time playing outdoors, opting for TV or tablet time. This can have adverse consequences for children's health and overall well-being.
Nature can give us a sense of calm, appreciation, wonder, perspective, curiosity, and more. It gets children moving and engages their senses. Developmentally, playing outdoors can benefit children's fine motor skills, muscle strength, body mass index, social development, and emotional development.
Explore the great outdoors with your kids this summer while creating beautiful art using what you find outside (and maybe some glue and googly eyes too). Making art with nature is a great way to get the creative juices running while developing a deeper appreciation for nature and the environment.
Materials
Here's what you'll need:
- Paper
- Liquid craft glue
- Crayons/pencil crayons/markers
- Googly eyes
- A small bag (paper bag or ziplock bag)
- Nature!
Directions
This craft is less step-by-step and depends more on your creativity as well as the unique items you'll find in nature!
That being said, here's how to get started:
Using the small bag, have your child collect interesting things they can use to include in their art. You can make this extra fun by making it into a scavenger hunt. Kids can "hunt" for leaves, flowers, twigs, pinecones etc.
Next, have your child place the items on the paper and encourage and/or help them start their creations.
Using leaves and twigs, crayons, googly eyes, and craft glue, you can make animals, funny characters, scenes - your imagination is the limit!
