🎨Arts·15 min·Sample Lesson

Arts in Nature

A leaf. A rock. A stick. A puddle. An artist named Andy Goldsworthy walks outside with empty hands and makes amazing art using only things he finds on the ground, like a spiral made of orange leaves, or a wall of stacked stones balanced without any glue. No paint. No scissors. No glue. Just nature and his hands. Today, you get to be that kind of artist!

What You'll Learn

- That art can be made from things we find outside, not just paper and crayons - How color, shape, and size can be sorted to make a pattern - How to make a piece of nature art and then let it go - New words: pattern, sort, and natural

What Is Natural Art?

Natural art means making a picture or shape using things that grow or exist outside, like leaves, flowers, pinecones, rocks, sticks, sand, or snow. You do not glue anything down. You just arrange the pieces so they look nice together, take a picture if you want to remember it, and then you can leave it outside for the wind, rain, or animals to move around. That's part of the fun: the art does not have to last forever to be real art.

Sorting: The Secret Tool Artists Use

Before Andy Goldsworthy builds his nature art, he sorts. He picks only the reddest leaves for one part, only the roundest rocks for another. Sorting means putting things that are alike into their own group: all the yellow leaves together, all the long sticks together, all the smooth rocks together. When you sort first, your nature art looks much more like a real pattern instead of a messy pile.

Try This Outside

Next time you are outside, collect five leaves that are all different colors. Lay them in a line from lightest color to darkest color. You just made your first pattern, like a real artist!

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What does it mean to 'sort' items for nature art?

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In the lesson, what happens to Andy Goldsworthy's nature art after he finishes it?

Match each natural item to a group it could be sorted into.

Terms

Red leaf, orange leaf, yellow leaf

Tiny pebble, medium rock, big rock

Straight stick, curvy stick, forked stick

Smooth stone, bumpy stone, sharp stone

Definitions

Size group

Color group

Shape group

Texture group

Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.

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Make Your Own Nature Art

Go outside (or use a bag of leaves, rocks, and sticks brought inside) and collect at least 10 natural items. Sort them into at least two groups (by color, size, or shape). Arrange your sorted items into a pattern, a picture, or a spiral on the ground. Take a photo of your finished nature art to share, or draw a picture of what you made.

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