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 every day, 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 to enjoy the sensory experience of painting and creating art with objects that they see everyday!
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.
Nature Walk
At first we went on a nature walk and collected items. Then we did the actual painting process and sensory experience. You could easily make this part a texture scavenger hunt!
To start, we set out on our walk to a nearby park.
We talked about what items he might like to collect before hand. As we went, he was very excited when he stumbled upon the actual items he mentioned!
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 beside him and a long piece of paper in front of him which allowed him room to explore and create.
Before we 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 for the 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 paint brushes and textures.
Once he finished, he created some wonderful 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!
What are some ways you have created using a different tool to paint with?
I would love to hear!
Painting With Nature: A Sensory Activity on handsonaswegrow.com
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