Art and nature go hand in hand, and the process of making art can also be a way of expressing our feelings and thoughts—the essence of communication. This week at Tinkergarten Anywhere, we'll invite explorers to use colorful treasures from nature to create something that communicates a special message to someone they love.
Water (to mix with nature treasures to make paint)
Traditional art materials (e.g. markers, paint, glue, tape, crayons, stamp pads)
Learn how to set up a home art center to inspire kids to create all summer long here.
Step 2: Watch the Tinkergarten Anywhere Nature Art video lesson.
Hop into your My Tinkergarten trial dashboard to watch the Nature Art video lesson. Kids can watch how Meghan and other explorers use art to communicate a message to someone special, then get inspired to make their own nature art!
Not yet enrolled in Tinkergarten Anywhere? Join now or try a free trial here.
Step 3: Invite play and generate ideas.
After kids watch the video lesson, ask “How can you communicate a special message to someone you love?”
Brainstorm some ideas together? Who would your child like to share a special message with? What makes that person special? What memories does your child have of that special person? What message does your child want to send to their special person?
Step 4: Make art and support the process.
Make art materials available to kids and invite them to create a special message to someone they love. As feels supportive, model a few art-making techniques to inspire kids’ play. For example:
Model paint making by squishing berries and/or mixing colorful spices or dirt with water.
Model mark making by using berries, spices or mud to make a shape (i.e. spiral, circle, oval, square) on the paper.
Model connecting a leaf/blade of grass/flower to paper using squashed berries, spice paint, mud, glue or tape.
Model print making by dipping a nature treasure in the nature paint and pressing it on paper or by painting over it and then peeling it off.
As kids explore the art materials, you can support their play by commenting on their choices of materials, their actions and their efforts. No matter what or how kids choose to create, the process of making art is far more important to nurturing creativity and communication than the final product. Watch this video just for grown-ups to learn more about how to support the process (and not just the final product) of kids’ art.
Step 5: Share your message.
Help kids share their message with their special person by putting it in an envelope, addressing it and placing it in the mailbox. Getting kids involved in the steps needed to mail a letter is a great way to support communication skills and celebrate their art-making efforts. If it is too tricky to place their art in the mail, take a photo and send it to their special person together.
Make Grateful Designs to express gratitude for someone you love.
Take inspiration from this week’s featured creature and make Butterfly Art.
Why is this activity great for kids?
Art and nature go hand in hand, and the process of making art can also be a way of expressing our feelings and thoughts—the essence of communication. As kids explore design-making with various materials, they practice fine motor skills and engage multiple senses. Arranging materials into patterns and designs supports creativity and focus skills. Finally, thinking about our appreciation for another person and creating something that might make them smile supports both cognitive and compassionate empathy.
By communication, we mean the ability to listen, understand, speak, read and write and more. In order to communicate effectively, kids must learn to understand what they want to get across, then decide on how to convey their messages, working to coordinate the mind and body to do so. They also need to learn to anticipate how the message will be received by another person(s). This is rather elegant and requires a symphony of physical, cognitive and social capabilities. The more children can practice, the better!
Why does it matter?
On a very practical level, kids need to be able to express questions and ideas in order to learn. Kids who communicate effectively can test ideas, seek help and let their formal and informal teachers in the world know what they understand and where they need support. Kids will also need strong and nuanced communication skills in order to work well in peer groups and manage relationships with authority figures, critical parts of life in classrooms and beyond. Later in life, they will need these skills to form close relationships, advocate for themselves within communities and be effective in the workplace.
Creativity
Category:
Thinking Skills
What is Creativity?
By creativity, we mean the ability to both imagine original ideas or solutions to problems and actually do what needs to be done to make them happen. So, to help kids develop creativity, we parents need to nurture kids' imaginations and give them lots of chances to design, test, redesign and implement their ideas.
"Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”
Why, you ask? For one, it is through being creative that a person is able to get senses, sensibility and spirit working together. Simply put, without creativity, we don't think our kids will live a full life.
On a more practical level, it's also the means by which humans of all ages make an impact on the world and other people around them. A lot of heavy stuff is going to go down in our kids' lifetime, and their generation will need to imagine and implement solutions to big and very complicated problems. Although our kids are still far from public office or the boardroom, today's political and business leaders worldwide are already pointing to creativity as the most important leadership quality for the future.
Although years from the art studio or design lab, little kids can learn to think and act creatively if you give them time and the right practice.
Empathy
Category:
Social Skills
What is Empathy?
Simply put, empathy is the ability to think and care about the feelings and needs of others. The good news is, the more we study, it appears that children are empathetic by nature. All we need to do is nurture it in them—that of course is now always easy. Even though young children are simply working on gaining control over their emotions and won’t learn to really think about their emotions and the cause and effect of their behavior on others until their school years, they can start to develop the foundation for empathy much earlier. Taking actions (and watching adults take actions) that benefit other people, caring for animals and their environment and even just wondering how other people or creatures are feeling helps build both positive habits and a strong base for the development of empathy.
Why does it matter?
Empathy is at the root of what psychologists call “pro-social” behavior—behavior that people must develop in order to develop a conscience, build close relationships, maintain friendships, and develop strong communities. Empathy also helps kids avoid bullying, one of the most worrisome social challenges young kids face. Being able to think and feel for others can keep kids from becoming either bully or victim and equip them to stand up for others who are bullied. Imagine if all kids had such tools!
Age: 0 to 8+
Time: 1 hour+
Materials: Paper or fabric; colorful nature treasures (e.g. flowers, berries, colorful spices); water; (Optional) art materials (e.g. markers, paint, glue, tape, crayons, stamp pads)
