Nature CollageActivity

Materials

• white glue
• styrofoam grocery tray
• nature items such as pebbles, bark, leaves, nuts, pine needles, pine cones, seeds, wood shavings, shells, seed pods, or dried weeds
• piece of wood for base
• craft stick
• cotton swab

Art Process

1. Squeeze a puddle of glue in the middle of a styrofoam grocery tray.
2. Select an item from nature and arrange it on the base piece of wood. Dab the item with glue from a craft stick or cotton swab. The artist may choose to dip the item in the puddle of glue.
3. Now stick the item to the base piece of wood.
4. Add more bits of things from nature and attach them to the piece of wood with glue.
5. When satisfied with the arrangement, allow the collage to dry overnight or several days.

Variations

• Using felt pen or paint, make areas of color on the wood base and then glue the nature items into the color design.
• Nature Collage can be made on fabric-covered wood, a paper plate, cardboard, plaster of Paris in a pie plate or any number of other backgrounds.

Hint: As an alternative to white glue, a glue gun provides immediate, strong, long lasting results. Constant one-on-one adult supervision is necessary when using a glue gun.