Masterpieces from Nature -An Easy Craft for Little Hands

My own children go to Forest School once a week as part of our homeschooling program.  Their innovative teacher had them create pictures on the forest floor with natural materials from the woods.  They framed their work space by first using four sticks to section off their canvas.

Then they used leaves, twigs, bark, etc. to represent different objects in their pictures.  It was very interesting to hear the elaborate intention behind each object that was put into the picture.   I was surprised at the level of detail and the picture really jumped out and came alive for me once they explained what each item represented.

My children’s forest school art activity gave me an idea of how I could adapt this craft for my daycare children.  My little ones LOVE to collect pinecones, leaves and sticks.  We walk in the woods about three times a week and they return home from each walk with their arms full of found treasures and their pockets stuffed with goodies.  Here was another way we could honour their treasures and share their experience with their parents. We would make our own Nature Materpieces.

The children eagerly collected a variety of fall forest objects for their craft projects. If you want to frame the pictures with four sticks make sure they are thin enough to cut or break easily. Many of my kids collected leaves so I pressed them in between some heavy books overnight so that they would lie flat for their crafts.

The next day the children chose the leaves they liked the best and used them in their artwork.  We had collected enough leaves to make a life size sculpture!

I used a hot glue gun to glue the four sticks in a rectangular shape as the frame of the picture.  The children arranged their objects within the frame according to their own imaginative stories that they wanted to create.

The younger children were happy to simply stick their leaves on a piece of paper and tell me about their ‘boats.’  They used white glue which didn’t really stick so I went back later and reinforced the nature objects with a hot glue gun. This child didn’t want to frame their picture with sticks but break them into little pieces instead.  The process IS the product with preschoolers.

This child gave me a detailed explanation that the leaves were suppose to be trees in a forest and each tree had roots growing into the dirt.  There was grass growing in between the trees and clouds in the sky.  He asked me to use my hot glue gun to create wind in the sky blowing the tops of the trees!  Can you see it in the picture?

A simple nature craft to bring home for Mom and Dad.  This art piece will help the child talk about their day and it will help the parent feel connected to their child’s activities while at daycare.  Such a wonderful way to form an important connection.

Happy collecting everyone!