Art in the Outdoors

Materials included:

• Watercolor paints

• Paint brushes

• String

Materials not included:

• Paper

• Cups with water for rinsing brushes

• Plastic water bottles with caps (one per Girl Scout)

• Dried beans

• Glue

• Scissors

• Carton (from milk or juice; one per Girl Scout)

• Twig or small stick (one per Girl Scout)

• Decorating supplies such as permanent markers, paint, stickers, and other art supplies

Welcome:

Let’s make the Girl Scout sign and say the Girl Scout Promise and Girl Scout Law together. Would anyone like to lead it?

Introduction and icebreaker:

Today we are bringing art to the outdoors through painting, music, and projects to help animals. What is your favorite animal?

Activity 1: Discover art!

Supplies: None

Today we’re going to be artists and make art outdoors. We’re going to look at colors outside like artists do and paint a picture of what we see.

Ask the Girl Scouts:

• What kinds of colorful things do you think we might see outside?

• Where do you go to see art?

• At those places, what kind of art do you think you’d see?

• What makes these things art?

The best thing about art is that it can be found everywhere! Not just inside a museum, or on a wall somewhere. It’s outdoors, too! When you earn this badge, you will walk outside and see a lot of colors, shapes, and ideas for the outdoor art you want to create.

Before we go outside to become outdoor artists, it’s important that we Leave No Trace. This means you need to protect nature and leave it the way you found it.

Activity 2: Make a colorful painting outdoors.

Supplies: Paper, paint brushes, watercolors, water, cup (to rinse brushes)

Our rst outdoor art project is to create a painting of what we see outside. Pick any piece of nature that you see, and paint it with your watercolors.

Activity 3: Make a maraca.

Supplies: Bottle with cap (one per Girl Scout), dry beans, decorating supplies such as permanent markers, paint, stickers, and other art supplies

A maraca is a kind of musical instrument. You can shake a maraca to make music.

Start by decorating a bottle. You can use permanent markers, stickers, or other art supplies to design your maraca. When you’re done decorating your bottle, put dried beans into it. Don’t ll the bottle all the way—you want to have room for them to move when you shake it! Once you have the beans in the bottle, put the cap on. Now you have a maraca!

Test the maracas! Try moving them fast and slow—how does the sound change? Can you make up a fast dance and a slow dance to go with the sounds?

Do you hear any other sounds outside right now? Can you make your maraca sound like them?

Activity 4: Design a birdhouse.

Supplies: Scissors, glue, string, carton (from milk or juice; one per Girl Scout), twig or small stick (one per Girl Scout), decorating supplies such as permanent markers, paint, stickers, and other art supplies

For this project, we will create a birdhouse for your neighborhood birds! Outdoor art, like murals and sculptures, can change the look of an environment. A birdhouse is not only shelter for our ying friends—birds, owls, or bats—it can also look pretty outside.

Take a carton and cut a circle hole in the middle of one side. The hole should be about 1–2 inches across. This is how birds will enter their house! Poke a smaller hole beneath the entrance, just big enough for a small stick to t in. Insert a small stick and glue it in place—this will be a perch for birds to land on. Next, poke a few small holes in the bottom of the carton, so water can drain out. Then, poke a hole on each side near the top of the bird house—this is where we’ll run string so that we can hang the birdhouse. Finally, put string through each of the side holes and tie the ends together so the house can be hung.

Finish your birdhouse by decorating it any way you’d like.

Do you have an outdoor spot where you’ll place (or hang) your birdhouse? Make sure it’s secure and won’t topple over. Birds will use it for shelter and possibly nest their babies there, too.

Ask the Girl Scouts:

• What other art can you think of creating for the outdoors?

• How do you think the art can change the look of the area around it?

Wrap-up:

End the meeting with a friendship circle and a friendship squeeze. Have the Girl Scouts help with any clean-up tasks. Talk about what you are doing at the next meeting, get their ideas for activities, and share upcoming meeting dates, homework, volunteer needs, and other relevant information with caregivers as they arrive for pick-up. Consider sending a follow-up text with this information if needed.