August marks the beginning of the end of summertime, which is fine by me. I am much more suited for chilly weather and layers. Those of you home with your kiddos might be running out of ideas on how to keep screens at bay on these long, hot days. It’s the perfect time of year to try out nature paintbrushes!
Here is what you need:
- Pencil-sized sticks
- Rubber bands or string
- Leaves and stems
- Paint
- Paper
First, you will need to go outside and gather some sticks and leaves, or stems, to make your paintbrushes. You can identify each plant that you gather, both to learn what they are and to make sure you aren’t gathering something that might give you an itchy surprise. I recommend going to the herb garden and finding rosemary, oregano, thyme, and lavender. Each plant has different textures and sizes of leaves, which will make for interesting paintbrushes.
Once you’ve gathered sticks and leaves, take them back inside (or outside if it isn’t so bad heat-wise) and start to assemble the paintbrushes. Gather each type of leaf (or mix up a few, go wild!) and wrap them around the base of a stick. Secure the leaves to the stick with string or rubber bands. Voila, you have made a paintbrush!
Dip your creations into paint and explore how each leaf makes a different print on the paper. This is a fun way to learn about plants and also enjoy the process of creating something fun together. You can use an app on your phone like Seek or iNaturalist to identify what plants you gather, or you could go old-school and find a local plant guidebook. When I was a children’s librarian, I did this for my art program, and it was fun hearing the kids identify the plants they were working with and exploring how they interacted with paint and paper.
This is not a project that will result in fine art portraits or a thought-provoking landscape. The beauty of this activity is the joy in creating both the paintbrushes themselves and the process of painting with them. I’m sure you will create masterpieces in your own right, but the idea is to connect with each other and with nature. Enjoy!
