Create simple and beautiful garden nature art using leaves, flowers, seed pods, and petals collected from the garden.

This nature art activity is fun and easy for all ages and is a perfect excuse to get the kids outdoors and away from their screens!

This art activity was first published in 2017 and has been updated and reshared for today’s audience.

You might also like these simple paper flower crowns

Although we’ve dabbled in earth art before, getting creative with nature is something we don’t do enough of. I love it because it’s simple, fun, free and it gets the kids outside exploring and using their imaginations.

It’s not just about art. Numerous studies show that spending time outdoors in nature is great for mental health and wellbeing.

I know this is true because I always feel calmer after spending time in nature, so it makes sense that my kids would too (even if they think they’d rather be watching ‘unboxing’ videos on youtube instead!). Similarly, art and craft are soothing and relaxing, so when we combine the two we must be getting a double-whammy of good feelings. This is my theory anyway, haha.

You may not have a big or beautiful garden, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create nature art. Go on a walk or visit a park and you’ll be sure to find an assortment of things that can be used creatively together.

The sky is the limit so anything goes. Pick a few leaves from shrubs as you pass by and collect any interesting seed pods, sticks, feathers, or even rocks. Flowers growing on the sidewalk make perfect additions to your collection. 

After a short walk around the neighbourhood followed by a quick forage around our backyard we managed to collect a variety of pretty things. It’s always interesting to see which items capture the kids’ imagination and what they choose to create with them.

You might even notice from the photographs that some of our flowers are from noxious weeds, but we think they still look pretty.

How to create Garden Nature Art:

You will need natural items such as (but not exclusively):

• Leaves
• Petals
• Twigs
• Pebbles
• berries
• Small branches of greenery
• Anything else you fancy

How to:

Place your nature items in a pile and arrange them in pictures and patterns. There are no rules for what to create, anything goes!

We made a few fairies, patterns, abstract designs, and even a fish. 

It’s such a peaceful and relaxing way to spend an hour. What else would you create?

More ideas using nature:

• Make a DIY construction set using natural items
• Create artworks using nature and chalk
• Create earth art using river rocks and twigs
• Make a mermaid city in the sand
• These nature art insects on recycled cardboard look so cool!