13 Nature Art Ideas – The Best Free Activity for Kids

Free. Fun. Simple.

If you’re looking for a completely free, no-waste, no clutter, eco-friendly activity to keep your kids busy this summer, then I have the perfect solution, nature art! This activity allows your kids to show off their brilliant imagination skills while fostering an appreciation for the smallest and often overlooked objects found in the great outdoors.

The best part is, you don’t have to purchase a single thing for this activity, and since everything is found outside, it’s an ideal time killer when camping with kids. Additionally, rather than keeping more craft items in the house, these can simply be tossed back into the yard when you’re done!

If your child does want to preserve a masterpiece they’re particularly proud of, just snap of photo of the creation and encourage them to keep going.

Image of pine cones, leaves, rocks, twigs, berries, fern leaves, and pine needles on a white poster board.

Nature items on a poster board coming together to form a frog

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How to Collect Items for Nature Art Creations

This sounds easy enough, but I can’t stress enough that you don’t want to work too hard searching for certain shapes or items. If you happen across something that inspires you, definitely pick it up! Otherwise, walk around with your kids and encourage them to pick up the smallest things they can find, like pine needles, seed pods, or teeny-tiny pinecones (technically these are called pollen cones).

To collect everything, I like to use a repurposed plastic container. You’ll probably want to give one to each kid too, rather than trying to share just one container. For instance, I tried sharing with my son, but at 16 months old he was more interested in dumping out the contents or sharing our treasures with our little duck, Willow.

Young boy showing a white duck items in a plastic container.

Additional Supplies

Poster Board or Paper (to use as a backdrop/canvas)
Large, Rimmed Baking Sheet
Tweezers (optional but helpful for kids who like to be precise)
Imagination!
Camera (for capturing those clever creations)

Young boy dumping contents of a plastic container with a small black dog behind him.

Make a Nature Art Station

Outdoors

This is a great outdoor activity on days that aren’t too windy or rainy! You can set up your art station anywhere: on the driveway, patio, deck, a patch of dirt, etc. To really make those nature critters pop, I recommend laying down a large poster board or sheet of paper.

Indoors

For indoor creating, grab a large, rimmed baking sheet to help contain all the small bits and pieces. You can also lay sheets of paper in these, again to really help those cool designs stand out.

Even with a rimmed baking sheet, you should fully expect to need to clean up the floor afterwards. Try not to worry about any small messes and let the kids have fun coming up with their nature creations!

13 Ideas to Inspire Little Minds

The following questions should get those creative juices flowing if your kids get stuck for ideas! Typically, it can be hard to start, but once they do, they won’t want to stop experimenting and creating new critters!

You’ll probably want to join in on the fun, but don’t be surprised if you’re kids are better at this activity than you!