Art Field Trip at School II

This art lesson for upper elementary and high school grades focuses students on technical drawing: that is, drawing with detail and precision. It is a great hands-on cross-curricular activity with biology that can be done with students in the schoolyard. The goal of this drawing lesson is to help students learn to provide sustained, focused attention on the detail of a plant and to learn to describe and record what they see.

It will be helpful to preface this activity with some technical drawing lessons that teach and practice shading, proportion and observation. Maybe the drawing exercise can be done several times before the match-up.

Object Match Challenge

Material:  

• clipboards 
• piece of paper, or colored pencils, for each student
• bits of natural materials in the school yard: leaves of course, but also twigs and seed heads.

Directions:
Set the challenge for the students. Give them several minutes to collect a natural object in the schoolyard to study during this drawing exercise. Once they find their object, they will draw it on the entire sheet of paper, outside of possible, or in the classroom. Their drawing should be

• A- Accurate
• B- Big
• C- Clear
• D- Detailed

These standards will set the tone for the students and allow their work be compared to others in the class during a 'match-up' challenge at the end of the lesson. Ask students to take their time and capture as much detail as possible from their object.

As students are working, their teacher should review their progress and encourage them to add more detail, colors, dimensions and other subtleties of their object.

When the students have finished their drawings in an allotted amount of time (20-30 minutes), gather the group together in a central location. Ask the students to place their papers in a circle on the ground or on the perimeter of a table.  Ask them to put their objects in the middle of the circle or the table, but not near their drawing.

Once that is done, ask the entire class to work together to match each object to the corresponding object.  Debrief with the class about which objects were the easiest to identify and match and which ones were more difficult. Use the drawing standards to guide the discussion.

This lesson, conceived by the California Native Plant Society (cnps.org), was found for you in the 2017 Living Schoolyard Activity Guide.

 

Bushcraft Pen and Ink*
Students who love fantasy literature or medieval-era stories may like to try pen-and-ink drawing outside with found objects. 

Equipment

• bought or found big feathers (places where ducks and geese hang out might yield some; microwave for 5 seconds for safety)
• reeds, hollow stems
  
• sticks
• jars
• acorns
• bark 
• sharp scissors and/or knife
  
• paper
  

Activity
Making pen and ink that can be used to write or draw

Ink Making
Add 10 acorns and small bits of bark to a jar. Fill with water to just cover the materials and let sit for ten days.

Find black currants and boil in water over a fire, reducing the liquid to make a purple ink.

Crush a half cup of berries through a strainer into a bowl. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of vinegar. The vinegar will bind the pigment and the salt will preserve the ink. This was a traditional ink used in the 1600s.

Quill Making
Find thick bird feathers. Cut a slant at the tip of the feather; then make a small hole slightly above it. 
As an alternative, many water reeds are also hollow and can be used instead.

*This free lesson can be found and downloaded from Learning Through Landscapes.