Summer is a great time to plan outdoor art activities for children. It can be an effective way to stimulate creativity, combine science and art, celebrate the beauty of the season, and keep any spills out of the house. The activities below can be set up with very little advance planning and with items readily available in nature and at home.
Suggested Outdoor Art Supplies
- Sidewalk chalk
- Small bucket
- Dark colored construction paper
- Sponges
- Large paint brushes
- Cardboard
- Contact paper
- Tape
- Rocks
- Shells
- Flower Petals
- Seeds
- Leaves
Color With Wet Chalk
Unlike crayons, chalk creates drag on a surface, letting children “feel” what they draw. When chalk is dipped into water, it has a different texture than when it is dry and makes thicker and softer lines. Children can experiment with blending different colors and creating new lines and designs while practicing hand-eye coordination and improving muscle control.
There are a few different ways to experiment with wet chalk. One way is to dip chalk into a bucket of water to wet it before drawing on the sidewalk or a sheet of construction paper. Dark colored construction paper works best, as does large sidewalk chalk that is easy for a young child to grip.
Instead of using wet chalk on a dry surface, it is also possible to wet the surface to be drawn on. First, brush water across the construction paper to wet it. Then draw on the wet paper. Another idea is to wet an area of sidewalk and then let your child drag chalk through the puddle to draw.
Create a Nature Collage
Go on a nature walk with your child to collect leaves, flower petals, grass clippings, seeds, and other interesting small objects. Before starting the art activity, help your child organize her materials by sorting the objects according to their various attributes.
Cut out a square of cardboard from a box. Remove the backing from a sheet of contact paper and tape it to the cardboard so that the sticky side faces out. Have your child arrange the found items on the contact paper. When she is done with her creation, she can either save it by covering it with an additional sheet of contact paper or remove the items from the contact paper and start a new collage.
Paint With Water
Provide a bucket of water and a clean paintbrush for your child to paint the sidewalk, a large rock, sand in the sandbox, the grass, or the side of the house. Although the creations will eventually evaporate on all of these surfaces, some absorb water better than others, making this activity a science lesson about evaporation as well as an easy art project.
Make a Sun Painting
Your child can mimic a printmaking process without using any dyes or paints. Early in the morning on a sunny day, have her arrange opaque objects, such as the ones collected for the nature collage, on a sheet of colored construction paper. Late in the afternoon, remove the objects to reveal a print.
The sun will have faded the exposed construction paper, but the paper that was beneath the objects will still be its original color – showing the shapes of the objects that were used for the artwork. For children who may not have the patience to wait or for an interesting science experiment, purchase Sunprint paper, which works like black and white film to reveal a negative print in minutes.
Design an Ice Sculpture
Fill a plastic food container with water and let it freeze over night. Fill spray bottles with water, salt water, or water with food coloring. Let your child create an ice sculpture by squirting the block of ice to melt it in certain areas. For older children, you may want to fill some bottles with salt water and some with plain water. Let them experiment to guess which bottles contain the salt water and which do not.
The art activities described here are quick to set up and simple to do, but allow children to express their creativity in an open-ended manner. Once you and your child have explored these activities, you may be inspired to create art from other natural materials, such as sand or clay.
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