Art Projects
SensoryPreschoolers8 Comments
Experience painting with nature in a different and fun way! Use items collected from hiking adventures in a painting project your kids will love.
My little ones LOVE to paint and I am always looking for new and fun ways to enhance their painting experience.
One main way that I accomplish this is to find alternatives to your everyday, standard paint brush.
I love turning to the outdoors and incorporating natural items in our play whenever possible. Using the variety that nature has given us is an excellent way to create a fun painting experience.
There are so many different colors, textures, and variety that nature offers. It’s fun for toddlers and preschoolers (and even older kids) to enjoy the creativity and sensory experience of painting and creating art with objects that they see every day!
I was really excited because I was able to turn this into a two-part experience for my son, a nature walk and nature painting.
Start by Going on a Nature Walk
At first, we went on a nature walk and collected items out of the natural world around us. You could look in your backyard, or go for a walk in the park, to find natural objects.
Try to find things with different textures, such as leaves, pine cones, acorns, flowers, or bark. You could easily make this part a texture scavenger hunt! The more variation the better!
We talked about what items he might like to collect beforehand.
As we went, he was very excited when he stumbled upon the actual items he mentioned!
Then we did the actual painting process and sensory experience.
Sidenote: If you don’t have the opportunity to get out into nature, collect items from around the house. Maybe try aluminum foil, a clothespin, a pipe cleaner, or a paper clip for your items with texture.
Let’s paint with nature!
Once we arrived home, I arranged his “natural paintbrushes” that he collected on a tray for him.
This allowed for easier access for him and a more pleasurable visual picture.
I put his paint tray and a long piece of paper (any blank paper or even a brown paper bag would work) in front of him which allowed him room to explore and create.
Over the years, we have used several things for our paint trays, including egg trays and muffin tins, more often than not a paper plate does the trick.
I added our favorite washable paint acrylics to the paint tray and before we even started, he independently pointed out and verbalized all the colors of paint on his tray. I always enjoy seeing my little ones initiate and add to their own learning experience!
It took him a few minutes to actually start the painting process. He first enjoyed color-mixing his paints with the pine cone from our nature walk.
After a bit of encouragement, he explored all the other items on his tray and really enjoyed the different paint lines that they created.
It was fun to observe how he used each item in a different way.
The pine cone and stick were used in a more forceful, splatter-type way.
The leaf sprigs were used more softly and were often dragged across the paper.
He took the one single leaf he had collected and chose to make a print of it!
We have done leaf prints in the past, so it was wonderful to see that he saved that experience in his little mind and chose to do it again.
He absolutely loved seeing the veins of the leaf on his paper as a result.
Next, he spent fifteen minutes painting with the different paintbrushes and textures.
Once he finished, he created some wonderful abstract process art to display that allowed him the opportunity and experience to use something other than your ordinary paintbrush!
He also gained the experience of creating with nature in a different and fun way with this process art activity!
What are some ways you have created using a different tool to paint with?
I would love to hear!
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Annie says
I have a Daycare and want to incorporate nature!