Sprout Scouts Playcamp: Art & Artists in the Garden

Art & Artists in the Garden

Exploring art and nature with children incorporates two of my greatest passions! And nature has been a muse to the greatest artists of all time for as long as the Earth has existed with people who can capture its wonder through art. This particular theme is very dense in art activities and might seem a bit overwhelming. You can choose a selection of activities that particularly interest you and your budding artists and devote a week or two to the theme. You can also store these in the proverbial vault and select an art activity as the inspiration strikes (or the melodious summer whines of “I’m boooooored!").

Today in early childhood, there is a great push toward art, not crafts. I’m a both/and kind of lady, not either/or and I do believe each method has its time and place. For the sake of exploring art and artists in nature, I will be focusing more on process art and provocations—opportunities for children (and adults alike) to explore, experiment and experience both nature and art without a set goal or design in mind. We will explore art work in two dimensional form, sculpture, fiber arts, culinary arts and even the art of storytelling! This will barely scrape the surface of the multitude of ways you can incorporate nature and art. I encourage you to join the Sprout ScoutsPlaycamp group on Facebook to see and share additional ideas throughout the summer months ahead.

One great benefit to the summer months is the ability to take messy play and art activities outdoors! Clean-up is a breeze (especially if you have a pool or a hose nearby). I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with a list of materials. I encourage you to use what you have, share among friends, to inquire about art materials on the attic move list from local neighbors or relatives and perhaps also keep your eye open at secondhand stores for great art supplies on the cheap. The end of the school year is also a time when school and art supplies go on huge discount (and they will again late in the summer as the new school year approaches). Take advantage of these sales if you are looking to add to your stash or replace items! To quell some of the art supply angst, I have separated my materials list into two sections: bare essentials and optional additions:

Materials List:

The Bare Essentials:

Most or all of these items can be found at the Dollar Tree or inexpensively at craft supply stores, office supply stores or big box stores (like Target or Walmart). Most craft supply stores have online coupons available daily through their websites and these can support an art supply splurge!

• paper (white, construction, newsprint, easel/butcher/craft paper roll--whatever you have is great!)
• pencils, colored pencils
• crayons and/or markers
• washable tempura paint
• sidewalk chalk
• paint sample cards*-- These are available for free at hardware stores and stores where hardware items are sold
• 
  a sketch book*-- This is my one suggested “splurge” item for the summer. Journals, sketch books and notebooks are a great end of the year/beginning of summer gift for children of all ages. They can be used to capture summer’s memories in a variety of ways as you’re home and about town (or beyond). You can recycle unfinished notebooks from the previous school year or swing by the sale rack at the office supply stores this time of year and grab a new one. Alternatively, you can make your own nature journal for kids as shown on Simply Rachel.

Optional Additions:

• recycled items, especially CDs, squeeze bottles, containers, paper scraps, recycled artwork, colored tissue paper, junk mail, greeting cards and/or magazines for cutting/collage, sushi trays, glass baby food jars (great for storing paint!)
• scraps of yarn, embroidery thread, ribbon, fabric or old clothing/textiles that are on the toss or donate pile. Hitting up a friend who sews, knits or crochets is a good idea as well--one person's spring cleaning is another's summertime stash!
• craft wire, pipe cleaners, beads
• items from nature such as pine cones, pine needles, leaves, flowers, sticks
• permanent markers
• chalk pastels, oil pastels, watercolor pencils, acrylic paints
• artists’ canvas
• an easel (or you can get Do-It-Yourselfy and build one for outdoors or a portable cardboard one for indoors or outside)
• flat, unframed mirrors
• picture or photo frames with the glass and back removed (great way to upcycle a broken frame)
• paint brushes
• clipboard
• smocks, aprons or old shirts for covering up artists at work
• water balloons, bubble solution, straws and/or bubble wands, squirt guns or squirt toys (available from Dollar Tree)
• clear contact paper
• masking tape, washi tape, white glue, glue sticks, tacky glue
• ice cube tray
• a camera or camera phone
• smooth river rocks, either found or purchased (floral department of Dollar Tree or craft supply store)
• stickers with nature based/garden themed pictures
• wooden peg dolls or toy people you have on hand
• toy animals or finger puppets
• scarves, blankets or sheets, dress up clothes
• a tea set if you happen to have one (you can also use your regular dishes or go for some fun disposable paperware)
• food coloring

Outdoor Activities:

While each of these activities are great for outdoors, many can be modified to be done inside on a rainy day or when you need a break to cool off!

Two Dimensional Art Outdoors:

• Still Life in the Garden: Find a great spot outside, whether in your own yard or while visiting a public garden and grab a caddie of your favorite art and drawing materials along with some paper and a clipboard or a sketchbook. You can collect some items of interest from nature--perhaps some cut flowers or herbs, an interesting rock or two, a stick, seed pods or pine cones... Or you can seat yourself in front of an interesting tree or garden and capture a larger scale still life. The main idea is that whatever you are drawing is still, so I would not recommend an animal, bird or person for this particular activity. You can sit on the grass, on a blanket, at a table or by an easel--however you are comfortable. Perhaps you'd like to use paint and a canvas instead of drawing materials and paper. It's up to you! Parents, note that this can also be done with very young artists. They may not have the skills or understanding yet to replicate a still life on paper, but giving over the idea that still life drawing is capturing through art what we see and feel is a great beginning!

• Colors in Nature: Exploring Shades and Hues: Nature is truly a rainbow and it comes in many shades and hues. This is a great way to show how white added to a color creates a lighter hue and how black added to a color creates a darker shade. There's a bit of prep-work for this one. You'll want to head over to your local hardware supplier and pick out a collection of paint sample cards with shades and hues of each color. I like to laminate them, hole punch each one and keep a set on a metal ring for easy storage. You can read all about that in this post, and you'll be using these again and again this summer and all year round! Next, choose one color to explore and perhaps some found items in nature that come in shades and hues of that color. Green is a particularly easy one, but summer gives way to a variety of colorful options. Kids can help with this in a backyard color scavenger hunt!
  

Now it's time to set up your provocation to explore shades and hues of your chosen color! We did this indoors, but you can certainly do it outside. I love using a squeeze bottle (recycled condiment bottles are great) and storing some black and white paint in recycled baby food jars. You'll need an ice cube tray or several recycled containers or even a paper plate for mixing colors. If you have a paint pallet, you can use that. I offer a couple of plastic spoons or craft sticks for mixing and some paint brushes and paper for testing shades and hues and creating lovely artwork! If you have made more shades and hues than you can use in one sitting, store your remainders in covered containers or jars for next time.

• Nature Painting on Mirrors: You'll need a flat mirror and paint in a variety of colors for this one! To set up your work space, offer each artist a mirror and a selection of paints and brushes in the middle of the table or work space outside. You might also offer a basket or bowl of interesting small items from nature like rocks, flowers, leaves or seed pods. The artist's inspiration will come from what is reflected in the mirror, or whatever is in his/her mind. As artists of all ages paint, the mirror will reflect their artwork! Washable tempura paints will clean off the mirror easily so that you can revisit this activity many times. You might also wish to make a print on paper of the artwork so you have a permanent copy. This is also a great way to encourage self portraits, another wonderful art activity to take outdoors!
• Chalk and chalk pastels on blacktop (and other outdoor surfaces): Sidewalk chalk is always a popular warm weather activity. Sidewalks and blacktop are common surfaces for art to take place, but what about brick walls or wooden fences? Be sure, of course, that your work area is your own or that you have permission to create and decorate public spaces. I particularly love using chalk pastels outdoors to invite more colors and color mixing. The addition of frames creates a new feel and experience for young artists as they navigate their work space. The best part is that your "canvas" washes clean for re-use after the next good rain!
  
• Painting with Nature Brushes: This time you'll need some paint and some paper but you'll make and find the brushes using items from nature. Pine cones, pine needles, leaves, sticks and perhaps some added string and masking tape will help you and your young artists create interesting paint brushes for getting that paint to the paper. We love using easel paper for a large horizontal surface but you can also set up a vertical surface at the easel or work on a smaller scale. Check out these DIY Nature Paint Brushes for Kids on Apple Green Cottage.
  

Outdoor Art in Action

Art needn't be a sedentary activity! Get moving with these outdoor art ideas that will combine some simple art supplies and outdoor toys you likely have on hand...

• Mixing Colors with Your Hands, Feet and Whole Body: We love the books Little Yellow and Little Blue by Leo Lionni and Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet for inspiring color mixing activities. Throw down some white craft or butcher paper (you'll want to secure your edges with heavy rocks or something similar), grab some squeeze bottles full of washable paint (recycled condiment bottles are great for this), and get your artists in some old clothes or swim wear. You can turn up some music or let the sounds of nature be your background melody as your little artists squeeze, stomp (and sometimes slip and slide) across the paper. You can choose a couple of colors to blend or many colors. This is a favorite activity of ours every summer! When you're done, it's time for a good swim or hose down!
• Water balloon paint bombs: This is a variation on the same theme, only this time you'll be using water balloons filled with paint. I recommend using a condiment or squeeze bottle with a pointed nozzle for easy filling. You can add a bit of water as well to your washable tempura paints to thin them out. You can toss your paint bombs down onto paper or work vertically at an easel.
• Water gun or squirt toy paintings: In another variation, water guns or squirt toys are filled with thinned out tempura paints and squirt at the easel or paper! This is super fun, super messy and worth repeating!
• Popped Bubble Paintings: We often think about fine motor skill development when we're doing artwork with children, but the mouth also involves tiny (and important) muscles that need to be strengthened throughout the early years for proper speech development. Grab some paper or canvas, some bubble solution and your food coloring (a bit of tempura paint will work). Fill some recycled containers with bubble solution and your desired color and mix well. Using bubble wands or a straw, blow bubbles toward your paper or canvas and watch as they pop and create amazing designs!

Mixed Medium Art & Sculpture in the Garden

• Fiber Art & Weaving in Nature: On a very simple scale, all you need is a basket of scrap fibers (yarn, ribbon, strips of fabric, even craft wire, rubber bands, colored zip ties or pipe cleaners and beads if you have on deck). These can be used to weave through and decorate interesting branches or a tree or shrub in your yard. You can create your own geo-board using scrap wood and nails or tree circles or even an old tree stump.

 If you are feeling quite ambitious, check out these incredible DIY looms and weaving ideas on Let The Children Play. You can create a smaller, portable loom using sticks, chicken wire, twigs or branches. You can go big and get some scrap wood involved, larger branches, ladders or even trees already on your property. One thing I have learned about kids is that if they can use something to tie, twist, weave and otherwise connect stuff together--they will! My older one once made a sculpture constructed entirely of leftover neon colored zip ties we had from building our sukkah in the fall! Items found in nature like interesting leaves, feathers, foliage and seed pods can be incorporated as well.

• Journey Sticks: This is one of my favorite outdoor art activities. Earlier this year I started up a nature based playgroup and at our kick-off event, children and adults of all ages walked through a nearby park to find and collect the perfect stick and accouterments for creating a journey stick. Simply put, a journey stick is an artistic representation of a nature walk. But every adult who has ever seen (or been) a child knows that a stick is never just a stick. It is a wand or a baton or a fishing pole or a microphone or a sword. You'll need the perfect stick, of course. And then you'll need some colorful yarn or embroidery thread, perhaps some washi tape or pipe cleaners, a dab of tacky glue to secure loose ends and whatever unique leaves, flowers, seed pods or tiny natural treasures you can finagle in! I confess that our playgarden is full of journey sticks and additional "swords," "ski poles," "telescopes" and "guitars" collected along the way!

• Recycled CD Suncatchers: If you're anything like me, you have a lot of old or damaged CDs floating around the house that need a new purpose. Their time has come to shine again--this time in your garden! You'll need some string and permanent markers as well. Before you balk at the permanent markers with kids idea, try it! I have found that generally speaking, most young children do very will with permanent markers given the information that the color will not easily wash from skin or other surfaces. They have an innate reverence toward these grown-up art materials (and all "grown-up" art materials for that matter, so I do highly recommend exposing children to the real stuff if and when you can). In the event that you or your children do get permanent marker on your hands, rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer will work to get it off. Additionally, since you can work outside, you won't worry about your table tops or walls as much! Draw and doodle some colorful designs on the shiny blank side of your old CDs and hang them from a branch or create a mobile using a wire hanger and hang it from a hook outside. The sun will reflect beautifully bringing light and color to your yard! I especially love this photo from Happy Hooligans blog author Jackie Currie on CBC Parents.
• Photography is as oft forgotten an art form as it is easy to remember now that we constantly carry a camera at our fingertips in the form of smartphones. Children can capture incredible photos in nature from their own perspective and view given the opportunity. This summer, hand over your smartphone for a brief time or maybe even the family camera if you have one. Do they still make disposable cameras?? Allow your young ones to experience the art of photography in nature and spring for prints whether from your home printer or through your local drug store or office supply print shop. It is a great way to capture memories, art and inspire a potential hobby!

The Art of Storytelling in the Garden

I firmly believe that theater, storytelling, puppetry and literature are lovely art forms to take outdoors! Create your own story stones by using stickers or small pictures with a nature theme--think bugs, flowers, animals--and affixing them to some smooth river rocks (purchased or found). You can add a layer of Mod Podge or acrylic sealant to make these safe to leave outdoors. Later in the summer I will provide a printable document on our Facebook group with pictures you can print to use and make your own story stones. With your story stones in tow, head out to your yard or your local park or garden. What stories can you weave with your stones? Perhaps each member of the family will choose one to weave into the story. Perhaps you will act out each picture together. Can you be as tiny as a ladybug? What does the world look like from the lady bug's perspective? What about a big brown bear? You can create story stones with your favorite children's literature or fairy tales in mind and recreate the scene outdoors as well. Some classic tales lend themselves particularly well to this--like Jack & the Beanstalk or Thumbelina. Add in some old blankets, scarves, sheets and dress up clothes to create an outdoor stage and costumes. Bring out some puppets or small toy people and animals or perhaps some wooden peg dolls. Dramatic play reaches all new heights (and depths) in the great outdoors...

Tea for Two (or Three or More) in the Garden

Just as our gardens are in peak season, so, too, are the culinary arts. Collect some tasty and colorful bounty from your own edible garden (remember the herbs and edible flowers!) or from your local farmers' market or even the grocery store. Dress up in your finest clothing and spread out the picnic blanket for tea time. You can do this in your own yard or pack a picnic. If you have a real tea set, it might be lovely to take it out, but you can also use more durable (and disposable) dishes if you prefer. Make some sun tea with fresh cut mint leaves or squeeze your own lemonade if tea is not your taste. Make some cucumber or radish tea sandwiches with seasonal produce that's locally grown! A drizzle of honey is delicious in tea--just watch out for the bees! Tea Parties make any day a special day--you might just bring along your sketch book, nature journal or outdoor easel to capture the moment.

Indoor Activities:

Summer is not all sunny days. And even when it is, you still need to cool off inside every so often. That doesn't mean the fun has to stop! Here are some playful ways to incorporate nature based art indoors...

• Exploring Monet's Gardens with a Table-top Mural: I especially love introducing young artists to the work of Claude Monet when exploring art and nature. Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork is a fabulous children's book to accompany this activity. You can also check out your local library and the internet for books and prints of Monet's work. Clean off your dining room table and cover it with white craft or butcher paper, using masking tape to secure the edges. If you prefer, you can spread your paper on the floor, but you'll want a large space for this either way. Next, you'll set up a variety of intriguing prints or pictures of Monet's work and a variety of art mediums to invite your young artist(s) to create their own versions of Monet's paintings. You can stick to paints or pastels. You can work in crayon, watercolor, pencil, charcoal... Perhaps you'll try some torn tissue paper and glue or other methods of collage. The idea is not necessarily to copy Monet's work, but rather to create through art the feelings that it inspires. Artists can move from station to station when you set out multiple mediums across the table. The finished product makes a lovely tablecloth or can be otherwise repurposed for later use (see the end of this article for ideas).

• Nature Sticky Wall:  Choose a space at child level on your wall or a door or even your refrigerator. Cut an appropriately sized rectangle of clear contact paper and tape it to the surface. You'll need a collection of leaves, flowers, flower petals and other somewhat flat and lightweight bits of nature. You can find these outdoors or rescue them from cut flowers that are on their way to the compost heap. Shorter artists in the family will have a great time sticking and arranging colorful bits of nature to the sticky wall! It's lovely to look at and use while it's up and easy to take down and dispose of when you're done!

Read All About It! 

Suggested Books and Resources:

There are some incredible books about art and artists out there. Here are a few of our favorites and some resources for more--and don't forget to check your local library!

For the Preschool Aged Crowd:

Little Yellow and Little Blue by Leo Lionni

Mix it Up! and Press Here by Hevre Tulle

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont

Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson

The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman

Are You an Art Sleuth? Look, Discover, Learn! by Brooke DiGiovanni Evans

For the Younger Crowd:

Harold and the Purple Crayon by: Crocket Johnson

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Little Yellow and Little Blue by Leo Lionni

For You:

A Little Bit of Dirt: 55+ Science and Art Activities to Reconnect Children With Nature by Asia Citro

Favorite Websites for Art with Kids:

Red Ted Art

Fantastic Fun & Learning

Happy Hooligans

Fun at Home with Kids

Mini Monets and Mommies (plus, check out their own list of suggested reading!)

Family Field Trips & Extension Activities:

While these activities are all designed to do in your own yard or home, many can be transportable. Making and taking your own nature journal along or your sketch book along with a pencil pouch of selected art supplies is a great way to add an activity to your next park trip (or any trip for that matter). You can even bring a portable table top easel with you and a sketch pad. Art is all around us--especially in nature--and we need only the time and opportunity to capture it. I encourage you to also bring along a nature journal or sketch book and even if you are "not an artist," to take the time to join in the activity of cultivating your inner artist with your children this summer. Creative work begets creativity! 
Art galleries and art museums are wonderful places to visit if you live nearby to one. While most museums require admissions fees, many (even our own local art museum) have outdoor exhibits open to the public. We especially love to picnic and walk through the VMFA Sculpture Garden. Even Farmer's Markets host a plethora of local artisans' work on sale and display. This is a great opportunity to introduce young children to "real artists" so they can ask questions and gain encouragement and inspiration.  

Use your paint sample cards and/or sketch book and go on a color scavenger hunt in your own yard and neighborhood or even a public garden or botanical garden center. Draw, photograph or collect your findings. You can even do this at the Farmer's Market or in the grocery store produce aisle!

What Do I Do With All This Artwork?!

Phew, that was a lot of artwork! Now what do you do with it all? Paper artwork in all shapes and sizes can be up-cycled and re-purposed into new art, gift wrap, collage scraps, greeting cards, handmade journals, bookmarks and more! So before you throw it away or re-wallpaper your entire home, ask yourself and your young artists--how can we use this again? In this way, art inspired by nature goes toward helping to preserve nature! It's a two bird, one stone kind of deal!

I hope you've found this theme as exciting and inspiring as I have! Stay tuned for our next one and don't forget to keep up to date with additional ideas and resources on our Facebook group. We'd love to see your own photos, ideas and activities along the way!

Happy Playing!