Natural Collages & Stamps

Written by Jennie Rose Goodkin, Paint Love Intern

Age

Objective/theme

Nature, Embracing the Mess

Supplies

A large sheet of paper
Paint and/or markers and/or glue/tape
A yard or area of your neighborhood where you will be allowed to collect plant matter and other natural items

Prep

Cover the space where you will be working--this one gets really messy!

Directions

Take a walk! Have kids spend some time outside searching your yard or neighborhood to collect a variety of pieces of plants and other natural materials that they find beautiful or interesting. I focused on trying to find items with different textures.
Consider quickly wiping off all collected materials before bringing them inside to prevent bringing in dirt or bugs.
Basically, go crazy…once all the materials are collected, kids should have a lot of freedom to combine and collage them in the most creative ways they can think of! However, here are three kinds of techniques to try:

Trace interesting shapes with a marker, leaving an outline on the page. Or, lay a plant on the paper and apply paint over/around it.
Paint on a natural object or roll it in paint, and then use it as a stamp, pressing it onto the page to transfer the paint. Tip: try gently stamping on a paper towel or newspaper before applying to your paper in order to get rid of excess paint so the texture of the plant will really show!
Tape or glue plant materials directly to the page. Feel free to cut or paint them before attaching.

Optional: Add a title! Encouraging kids to give their creation a name can be super fun and tie the project together.

Discussion

Appreciating Nature

What was something you saw on our walk today that you hadn’t noticed before?

Which plants/objects did you think made for the most beautiful part of your project?

Feeling Out of Control While creating this project, I found it was very hard to predict what the result would be of attempting to use natural items, such as plants, as art supplies. If this happens, it can be a good opportunity to talk about what it is like to feel out of control, which can be very scary:

Was there any time during the project something you tried didn’t turn out how you planned? How did that make you feel?

What was another situation when you remember something didn’t go as planned, or you felt out of control? How did you respond?