Zoom Art Classes for Children Focus on Nature

Artist Laura Lynne was raised a nature lover.  Her parents often took their family on an array of outdoor activities including camping, fishing, rock climbing, etc…  Laura also spent a lot of time at her maternal grandparents small hobby farm with outdoor hammock naps, apple picking in fall, and nature walks to collect wildflower bouquets for Grandma.  (I know now not to pick wildflowers, but it’s fun to recreate one of my childhood memories in an artwork.)

She spent summer days observing the bugs and squirrels in her yard, catching turtles and crayfish at the lake house they visited in the summer.  It was only a matter of time before the artist combined her two loves – nature and art!  In the summer of 2022, Laura developed a virtual summer camp program learning about Midwest nature through art.

Midwest Wildlife Art Classes

The kids loved the projects based on Midwest native animals.  They looked at photos of the animals for inspiration, watched some fun YouTube videos, for example, one that showed a mamma opossum carrying all of her babies on her back, and learned some facts about each animal.  A fact about the opossum that not a lot of the kids knew was that they are the only North American marsupial.  Many of the kids in the Chicago area thought they were rats on first guesses.  Getting kids excited about the animals living around them, maybe even in their neighborhoods, made them more interested in them as subjects for their artworks and hopefully helped them to appreciate nature more in the process.

Teaching Elementary Kids about Native Midwest Animals Through Art

 Of course, they also learned about art techniques, elements and principles.  We used watercolors, colored pencils and collage papers.  Many of the kids learned new vocabulary words like:

• Marsupial
• Silhouette
• dry brushing
• pigment
• macro photography
• composition

They talked about how many legs insects have verses arachnids, parts of an insect, parts of a flower, examples of native  flowers that bloom in the Midwest in Spring, etc… Children shared stories about times when they saw wild animals.  One child was riding bikes with her dad when they saw a lynx cross in front of them on the path!

Art Classes with Laura Lynne Art, LLC

If you, your school or child is interested in Zoom art classes, summer art camps or the virtual art program Laura developed for the DuPage Children’s Museum, please contact Laura at 208-991-2178 or email hello@lauralynneart.com.  Laura’s art teaching style is creativity based, inspiring students usually with nature, teaching art techniques and then encouraging students to create an original artwork.  Find more information on virtual and in person art classes and workshops here.

Thank you so much to the Indian Prairie School District for hiring me to create and teach this curriculum!  It was a lot of fun working with your schools!