Into the Woods: Families Making Art in Nature

by Sue Fierston

Overview

Discover your family's inner artist in the great outdoors! In Into the Woods, artist and teacher Sue Fierston has created 12+ chapters of family-friendly games and art activities designed to engage the senses and get your family in touch with nature at any season.

From fish prints to outdoor meditation, Into the Woods makes it easy to go outside with your family and have fun, whether your kids are 5 or 15. You'll try:

Printing with real fish and making a t-shirt in an afternoon
Relaxing and meditating with your kids as you silently sit on your porch or in a park
Becoming a citizen scientist and investigating nature's patterns
Playing with contour drawing and color in a nature sketchbook
Building a stomping press and a walking press for printing leaves

Many of the simple and inexpensive activities are right for kids of all ages and include instructions on how to adapt each activity for age, the season, and the time available, so it is easy for families to discover the fun and peacefulness of being outdoors. Let STEM education turn into STEAM as you combine the science of close observation with the tactile fun of printing fish and leaves together.

Each chapter contains a complete materials list, clear step-by step instructions, and photographs of the process and finished work. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results.

Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, Into the Woods is also appropriate for kids 12 and older to use independently, and it will enrich kids at wide range of skill levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735121406
Publisher:	Swinging Bridge Press
Publication date:	06/05/2020
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.43(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Into Nature: Meditative games

1. The Eight Treasures

2. Zen Camera: What do other people see?

3. The Sense of Touch: recipe for a Zen garden

4. Don't Eat That Raisin...Yet

5. Slip On Your Shoes and Step Outside Observing Nature: drawing and painting

6. Take a line for a walk: Contour drawing

7. Take Color for a Walk: Watercolor

8. Take a Sketchbook for a Walk Touching Nature: printmaking

9. Watercolor Leaf Prints

10. Leaf Prints With Sticky Ink

11. Fish Prints

12. Wear Your Prints

13. Build a Walking Press, a Stomping Press, Carve a Stamp

Selected Links and Sources

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

As a teaching artist in public schools, I asked children what they thought after the Eight Treasures meditation on nature:

"I realized outside isn't just the place we pass through." Rose, age 10

"I was afraid of the outside then I sat and listened and saw how beautiful it was." Chilpa, age 11

"Peaceful. Quieter than school." Ben, age 10

From the Publisher