Creating Art from Earth

Celebrating Earth Day can be done in many ways—and not just on Earth Day. You can reduce waste, reuse items for other purposes, and recycle items you no longer use. You can even create artistic masterpieces! 

The following activity inspires creativity by guiding you to make art from items found in nature.

Materials:

Before you begin, gather all of the following materials except for the items found in nature.

• paper or sketch pad
• pencil
• eraser
• basket, bucket, or bag to collect your items

• items found in nature

Step 1

Use a sketch pad and pencil to draw the design of a sculpture that you can create from natural items. The sketch can include any shapes you choose. If you are unsure of how you want to design your sculpture, jot down some ideas for components you may want to look for in nature.

Step 2

Grab your basket, bucket, or bag and go out into nature to collect the items to create your sculpture. Round up the kids and dogs and go exploring. You could walk around your backyard, stroll through your neighborhood, or even visit a local park.

Some items you may collect include leaves, rocks, sticks, flowers, grass, pine cones, and maybe even snow.

Note: Do not collect litter or other potentially harmful items, such as broken glass and food waste.

Step 3

Choose an outdoor space for organizing your items. You can also complete this activity indoors on a table or the floor. Arrange the items into the shape you sketched. Alternatively, you can improvise by assembling and/or stacking items in multiple ways until you find a design you like.

Step 4

Admire your natural artwork!

A version of this activity can be found in our Art 4 course. 

Did you complete this activity? We would love to see what you designed. Share your unique sculptures in the comments below.

Nicole Thompson is a contributing writer and editor to the Lincoln Learning blog. She brings more than a decade of experience in education, curriculum, and communications to her blogs. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Master of Science in Instructional Leadership, with certifications in secondary English and Communications. Nicole is married with four children and has a spunky golden retriever named Cinder and a rescue dog named Annie Banannie.