Art Exploration: Building with Natural Found Objects

Tête et Oiseau (Head and Bird), Joan Miró, 1967 — Tête et Oiseau (Head and Bird), Joan Miró, Spain, 1967, 24.5 × 28.5625 × 11 inches. Gift of Sylvia and Joseph Slifka in honor of Frederick R. and Jan Perry Mayer, 2004.71

Instructions:

Collect or invite students to collect natural materials (twigs, rocks, pine cones, leaves, etc.) and place them in a basket that you will add to an art area. Provide additional nature pieces to offer a variety of items for children’s exploration.
As they look, feel, and manipulate, children will discover the world of nature is exciting and filled with endless opportunities for exploring and discovering.
Encourage creativity by adding twist ties, green floral Styrofoam, pieces of cut string, glue, and other binding materials in the area, as well.
Let children explore these materials to try to build sculptures or forms using several objects from the center.

Guiding Questions:

Tell me why you chose the materials, or found objects, you used in your sculpture.
When you paired different objects together, did they look like or remind you of anything else (a memory, a different object, etc.)?
How did you get your objects to stay together? How did you get it to not topple over?

TIP: Family Engagement: If your home or school is in an environment with interesting natural materials, encourage families to take nature walks to gather objects with unique shapes or textures to add to the found object collection for your art area.