Art Works! is a series of blog posts created by the staff at www.EscapadeDirect.com that offer children of all ages and abilities the opportunity for hands-on art activities that allow them to explore, discover, and express their individual creativity.

We encourage parents to join in on the activities, too, and create their own Art Works!

Art Works! Activity #9: Spell Your Name With Nature

Kids love to collect things when going for walks in the woods. Here is a fun activity to use all the twigs, branches, leaves, nuts, seeds, and flowers they’ve collected. Express yourself!

This activity makes great Fall decorations for your home, too.

What You Need:

• A Variety of Twigs (different kinds of trees, and different lengths and diameters)


• Dried Flowers


• Nuts


• Seeds or Seed Pods


• Leaves


• Long Pieces of Sturdy Grasses


• Craft Wire


• Wire Cutter


• Needle Nose Pliers


• Hot Glue (optional)

What You Do:

• Cut or break twigs and small branches into lengths needed to spell your name. We recommend using twigs and branches in 8″ lengths.


• Carefully cut approximately 4″ of wire and twist it around several branches to join them together to form a letter. A needle nose pliers can be helpful when twisting the wires.


• Once your letters are formed from the twigs, embellish them with dried flowers, nuts, seeds, grass, or any other item from your collection – attaching these items to your twig letters with short pieces of wire.


• Twist small pieces of wire into interesting shapes and add these pieces to your letters as extra embellishments. For example, twist a length of wire into a spiral or other interesting shape.


• When all your letters form your name or other word, they are ready to be hung on a wall or in a window.

Variations:

• If you prefer, you could use hot glue (with adult supervision) in place of wire (or in addition to the wire).


• When you have created your name or desired word, use these letters on your dining room table as a unique centerpiece.


• If you want your letters to stand up, wire them to a short piece of log. The log can then be used as a centerpiece or seasonal decoration.

Please Note: We recommend using twigs and other items found on the ground versus cutting them from a tree or plant.

You Might Also Like:

Flower Press Kit – Preserve the flowers from your garden with this easy-to-use pressing kit.

Sharing Nature with Children – This book is packed full of fun, interesting activities to help you enjoy and explore nature with your children.

Share Your Art Works! Activities!
If you have an Art Works! project that you would like to share, email us a digital picture (or scan) of your project , and we will post it in our Kids Gallery. If you would like, include the artists first name, age, and your state. It’s fun for kids to see how other children interpreted the project!

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As always, encourage your children to come up with their own new ideas for art – and make sure to check back next week for another Art Works! activity in this series!

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