Summer Nature Art
Last summer I taught a one week course of nature-based art. My students were third, fourth and fifth graders. It was a fun group to work with and we made LOTS of art!.
We began by picking leaves, buds and seeds from the grounds around John Lyman school and pressed and dried them early in the week. Later that week we read the book "Look What I Did with a Leaf" and created some cool leaf animals by gluing our dried leaves to paper.
We looked at Georgia O'Keeffe's gorgeous flower paintings and made our own versions, taking care to look carefully at flowers from nature and getting so close the shapes became almost abstract.
The students spent a few days making handmade paper, adding leaf petals and small leaves to the pulp. When the paper was dried, we made twig and twine bound nature journals.
Believe it or not, we fit in one more project. Using stones, beads, shells and sand the students made mosaics featuring their favorite animals. A very busy, very productive week of art!
