Nature is all around for children, whether they live in the country or in the center of a city. In most places, they don’t have to go far to touch a tree, pick up leaves and seeds, or collect rock samples. The beach, on the other hand, is an exciting place to visit and explore using natural objects as art materials. Adults can help in the discovery of the beauty, magic and satisfaction of creating natural art projects. Young children are curious, and summer brings new opportunities to examine nature in unique ways. Give young children time and encouragement to observe before they plunge into an activity. All activities should be open ended, with no “wrong” or “right” way of doing them. Try not to make models for them or have unrealistic expectations.

Infants: Seashell Bottles – Adults can build on the inborn curiosity of infants while combining nature with the science concepts of waves in the ocean. When taking a trip to the beach have older children collect small shells and rocks in a sturdy plastic bottle. Then have them fill it with sea water and allow the infant to roll the bottle back and forth in the sand to watch how the waves in the ocean move shells and rocks.

Toddlers: Sand Drawings – Natural art activities stimulate children’s inherent curiosity. Encourage toddles to explore nature by finding and using natural materials in art activities which helps to lead them toward their creative potential. Take paper, crayons and a tube of white glue to the beach. Have the toddler draw a picture with the crayons, add some bits of seashells and then outline the picture and shells with glue. Encourage them to sprinkle sand over it, and then blow the excess sand away. Let it dry in the sun.

Preschoolers: Seaweed Printing/Painting – Add an innovative twist to the printing and painting beach projects by using seaweed. Bring paints, paper, brushes and clothespins to the beach. Let the preschoolers collect seaweed at the waters edge. Have them dry it off with a towel and let them paint the seaweed, then lay it paint side down on paper. Carefully lift it from the paper and have them paint it again with a different color repeating the process. Show them that when they mix colors they will get new colors, such as red and yellow will make orange, blue and yellow make green, and red and blue will make purple. Then have the children take pieces of the seaweed and clip them into the clothespins to make a natural seaweed paintbrush. They will quickly discover how the patterns and textures of the seaweed can add interesting designs to their paintings.

Allowing children to experiment with natural materials to create process-oriented art will stimulate their creative thinking, for young children the doing is always more fun than the finished product. These natural art projects should hopefully help to make them more aware and appreciative of our environment.

Art stimulates the imagination and makes the child think more inventively…
Barbara Herberholz and Lee Hanson