April 2008

The Art of Springtime: Nature Projects for Tots

By Julie Liddle

The telltale signs of spring are beckoning us to notice them. Add to that the lure of milder temperatures and longer days, and it is the perfect time to introduce your little one to the discoveries that await him in the natural world. It is difficult to imagine a more inspiring backdrop for indulging in some artful exploration and experimentation. During this season, you and your toddler or preschooler can tune your senses to the rich bouquet of sights, sounds, smells and textures of springtime.

Making Connections

At the center of all learning is the concept of connections. Through direct experience, the brain literally builds connections called synapses, and this proliferation of synapses between neurons is most significant during the first three years of a child's life. Research suggests that engaging young children in multimodal activities (in which input is derived through the various senses) is ideal for enhancing this kind of brain development (Arts Education Partnership, Position Paper for the Task Force on Children’s Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age 8, 1998). Age-appropriate art experiences inspired by observations in nature are ripe with possibilities for this kind of learning and are instantly gratifying and lots of fun for adults and children. The connections created through your shared experiences in nature will provide fertile ground for learning and growth on many levels. If we connect with the natural world and connect with our children, we can open the door to creative expression and establish all sorts of new and exciting connections. In the words of renowned environmentalist Rachel Carson, "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."

Through the Eyes of Babes

Can't find your field guide? Don't consider yourself naturalist material? Worry not; your tot will gladly lead the way. As the parent of a toddler or preschooler, you are probably well aware of the discrepancy between your child's ability to focus on what you want him to focus on (e.g., putting on his socks) and his ability to focus on what is interesting to him (e.g., watching the line of ants marching in formation across the sidewalk). Typically, you will find that your tot will be particularly engaged if an experience excites one or more of his senses. As his parent, and partner in discovery, you can help maximize these opportunities. Whether on a nature trail, in an urban park or in your own backyard, notice the cues that you might otherwise take for granted; perceive the world around you through the eyes, ears and hands of a child, and talk to your tot about what the two of you observe. If he is mesmerized by the inchworm that has landed on his sweater, talk about the colors you see, ask him how it feels when it crawls onto the back of his hand, compare the size of the tiny inchworm to his comparatively enormous finger, and teach him the importance of treating this fragile creature gently and returning it to its environment.

Similarly, a world of inquiry and investigation awaits as you encounter the remnants of a tiny blue robin's egg, observe the nesting behaviors of local birds and enjoy the music of their songs. Consider as well the possibilities when you engage your toddler in a little gardening, from digging in the dirt (and unearthing a few friendly worms and grubs) to experiencing firsthand the process of caring for a seedling and watching it grow. And of course, it hardly would be springtime in the Washington, D.C., area without the abundance of blossoming trees offering us a potpourri of colors, scents and textures at every turn.

From Observation to Expression

The ideas that follow for translating these experiences into artistic expression are simply suggestions offered as inspiration to get you started. The possibilities are limited only by your imaginations.

Since, in my experience teaching young children, I have found there to be an almost universal fascination with the subject of baby birds hatching from eggs and the caretaking behaviors of their parents, art-making on this subject can be very rewarding. Toddlers and preschoolers love an opportunity to make believe, so let them pretend to be a mommy or daddy bird that needs to build a safe cozy nest for its eggs. Encourage your child to gather items from your yard or the park that he thinks would be soft and warm for the nest, such as grasses, dandelion fluff, pine needles and other treasures. Once he has filled a small baggie, let the nesting begin. A brown paper lunch bag, rolled down upon itself to create a bowl shape, serves nicely as the container for a nest. Encourage your child to carefully place the nesting materials in the container one by one. You can also supplement the nature materials with bits of yarn, ribbon and feathers for added color, texture and visual appeal. If you and your child would like this to be a permanent piece, drizzle white school glue inside the nest and on top of the nesting materials and leave it to dry. You will find your child visiting and revisiting this nest. Offer plastic eggs (ideally with toy animals that can fit inside) for hours of dramatic play, or your child can use playdough to form his own eggs to place in the nest. This project is the ultimate in "multimodal" learning, as it incorporates the translation of observation into visual expression, uses the sense of touch with a variety of interesting textures and invites the use of imagination and dramatic play. I will never forget one 2-year-old in my class who delightedly flapped her wings and landed herself gently upon her nest over and over again.
Another way to extend the experience of the subject of birds is to use feathers instead of brushes for painting. Offer paper in varying colors or surfaces with different textures, such as cardboard or corrugated board, for different effects. You and your child will delight in the graceful strokes that these feather brushes create. Washable temperas work beautifully, but liquid watercolors also offer interesting possibilities for this technique. Consider mounting the three-dimensional nest on this painted board for a one-of-a-kind mixed-media piece.

Older preschoolers and even school-age children will be enthralled with the idea of imagining their own eggs and the type of creature that might be growing inside, whether bird, reptile or some imaginary creature. This papier-mâché technique is a fun activity that can be done outdoors in warm weather to minimize the mess factor. It requires the hands of two people to be done effectively. All you need is a standard party balloon, plenty of newspaper cut into strips approximately 1.5" wide and a bowl with white school glue diluted with water to 50 percent. One by one, dip the strips of newspaper into the glue mixture, lightly grasp the strip between your thumb and forefinger, run your hand along the length of the paper to remove the excess liquid, then apply the strip to the surface of the inflated balloon. Repeat this process, overlapping the strips as smoothly as possible around the entire surface of the balloon, leaving a small opening at the base of the balloon where the knot is tied. Continue adding strips until the newspaper is at least two layers thick. This can be done in more than one sitting if necessary. Place the completed, but very wet, egg on a bowl for balance, and allow it a day or so to dry thoroughly. The balloon then can be popped with a pin and removed from inside the "shell," and your child can decorate the egg with tempera paints as his heart desires. As a final (optional) step, a medium such as Mod Podge can be applied to add durability and shine.

Think Process not Product

Many of us have seen the obligatory cherry blossom craft come home in our child's backpack, complete with teacher-drawn trunk and branches and kid-applied balls of crumpled pink tissue paper. Sure, we smile at this token of our wee one's handiwork, but how meaningful was this process to your young child? Imagine walking with him outside on an April day, collecting bits of small sticks or branches and gathering up a handful of those delicate pink petals that have fluttered to the ground and collected in little piles along the edges of your path. Let your child drizzle white school glue on the surface of a piece of cardboard (the side of a box works well) and apply the sticks and branches to the glue. You can also offer colored tissue in shades of greens, pinks and whites. Tearing paper into bits is excellent exercise for tiny fingers, getting them ready for fine motor skills like writing down the road. Allow your child to attach the colored tissue at random. Then as a finishing touch, let him sprinkle the real petals onto his project, recreating the experience he saw in nature.

When doing art with young children, always remember that the essence of the experience should be in the process and should be on inviting your child to express himself in his own unique way. Open-ended projects will yield infinitely more gratifying, meaningful and memorable results for you both, while solidifying connections that will last a lifetime.

This is the first in a series of seasonal articles that art therapist and early childhood art specialist, Julie Liddle, will write for Washington Parent. This series emphasizes the benefits that come from encouraging developmentally appropriate, process-oriented creative expression with toddlers and preschoolers. Liddle's program, Art in Hand, provides art classes for toddlers and preschoolers at various Northern Virginia locations and workshops for parent groups and early childhood professionals. For more information, visit her website at www.artinhand.org.

Literature Connections

Another great way to make connections to your experiences is through literature. These books can be read before a nature outing or art adventure to get you inspired, or after, as a way of relating your real-world experiences to the images and words in the story. Here are some springtime favorites to get you started:

Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman
Will You Be My Friend? A Bunny and Bird Story By Nancy Tafuri
The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown and Leonard Weisgard
An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long
Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert
Have You Seen Trees? by Joanne Oppenheim, Jean Tseng and Mou-Sien Tseng

In our digital age, art pieces that may fade or be disassembled over time can easily be preserved and archived via digital photography. For the best results, photograph artwork in natural light on a dark background. And don’t forget to have the camera on hand while the artist is at work; these are some of the best photo opportunities around!