The Outdoor Art Apprentice badge was introduced in 2016.
Being outside in nature is a great way to spark your creativity. Some of our greatest works of art are inspired by nature—from early on, cave people drew pictures of sunsets, the sky, animals, and trees. Get ready to observe and collect things outdoors that will drive your art and creativity—from colors and patterns to landscapes and wildlife.
Purpose: When a Girl Scout Cadette has earned this badge, she will have been inspired outdoors and created nature-themed art.
Explore art outdoors[]
Art can be found everywhere, not just inside the four walls of a museum. Put on your artist’s cap and head outside to gather ideas that will spark your creativity.
CHOICES—DO ONE:
Attend a performance held indoors and one outside to compare each. Find an event inside and one outside—compare the experience of seeing each. This could be an outdoor movie, concert, or play. Record your responses to each experience. How did they differ? Which setting did you prefer? How did being inside or out change your experience?
OR
Record how things change outdoors. Head outside and find a scene—it might be a lake, a tree, the ocean, a trail, or a plant in your backyard. Write about it or sketch it in color. Record everything you observe. What season is it? What time of day? What colors do you see? What do you like about your scene? Then go out and record this same setting again at another time of day or even a different season. You might see the same tree reflected
in a pond during the summer and in ice during the winter. Is the lighting different? Did weather make a difference in the scene? In what ways do your two impressions of the same scene differ?
OR
Every step has three choices. Do ONE choice to complete each step. Inspired? Do more!
Dig into an artist who is inspired by nature. Look for an artist who uses nature in her work. She might be someone living or dead that you research online or whose work you admire in a museum. She might be an art teacher, family friend, older girl, or person you meet at a craft fair or gallery. Find out what moves her when she’s outdoors. What materials does she use? Why does she choose nature for her art? Then use her as inspiration to create something on your own.
Make something![]
It’s always fun to make something you can wear or give away! Just make sure not to disturb growing things—only use fallen leaves, pine cones, plants, or flowers. Ready to get started?
CHOICES—DO ONE:
Dye something you can wear. Find natural dye materials—beets, berries, roots, nuts, carrots, tea leaves, or flowers—to dye a shirt, tote, scarf, or whatever you want! Look for natural dyeing materials in your backyard and experiment. Use a color fixative to help your dye set (see Prepare Your Fabric for Dyeing on this page for instructions). The best fabrics to dye are cotton, silk, wool, and linen. Synthetic fabrics, like polyester, might work, too, but with lighter results.
OR
Make nature art out of clay. Clay is one of the most versatile materials you can use to create whatever you want—like something decorative (a pendant) or functional (a pencil holder). Head outside for inspiration—find a flower or animal to use as a model—then draw it and re-create it as a clay sculpture. Or put on a puppet show by creating clay shapes of the sun, moon, a cloud, star, and rainbow—add eyes and a mouth to each. Glue the shapes on craft sticks and perform your nature show for a younger girl. Find out how to make clay online or get clay at a craft store.
OR
Make paper that grows. Make a paper item that’s embedded with seeds so the person you give it to can plant it in a garden or pot and watch it grow! See the directions on the next page. You can create things like bookmarks, gift tags, and greeting cards. Use colored markers to write a message on your seed paper. Make sure to include planting directions with your gift. Tip: Use seeds that are small, flat, and native to your area.
Get to know—and create—sounds of nature[]
The sounds you hear outdoors are a powerful connection to nature. Think about how you feel when you hear rolling thunder, water flowing in a stream, or a bird chirping. Take your cues outdoors as you absorb the natural sounds of wind, water, wildlife, weather, plants, and trees, and make music!
CHOICES—DO ONE:
Produce outdoor sounds. Go outdoors and listen for sounds. It can be at a park, on a trail, or in your backyard. Then go indoors to re-create the sounds vocally or by using objects to mimic the sound. For example: Blow a whistle to sound like a cricket. Drop dried beans to sound like hail. If you can, record your nature sounds. Play or perform your sounds for a friend to see if she can guess what it is.
OR
Create a nature playlist. Create a playlist out of at least five songs to listen to when you’re doing something fun outdoors. Choose your theme: Slow music for relaxing outdoors? Uplifting, steady rhythms for a hike? Or fast, upbeat tunes for a run? Then create nature-themed cover art for your playlist.
For More FUN: Create a playlist of songs that have lyrics about nature in them. Share it with friends and family.
OR
Write a rap or poem inspired by nature. Write about something in nature that moves you, like saving an endangered species, preserving a trail, or your experience on a whitewater rafting or a ski trip. Share your rap or poem with friends and family in an outdoor setting.
For More FUN: Have a friend add music or beats to your rap or poem.
Be a nature photographer[]
Nature photographers take pictures not only because their subjects are beautiful but also to remind people to appreciate and respect the environment. When you portray nature through a different perspective, it opens up a new way of thinking. Explore nature and create your art through the lens of a camera.
CHOICES—DO ONE:
Photograph patterns and textures in nature. Find ones that appeal to you, such as the swirls on a butterfly wing, the shape of a petal, the veins on a leaf, the pattern of a snowflake, or the spines of a cactus. Then create a showcase of your work. It could be a digital album you can share, or make prints of your photos to put in a collage. Be creative!
OR
Create an outdoor photo journal. Take a walk or hike with a friend and take picture breaks along the way: Shoot photos of wildlife, landscapes, flowers, trees, pathways, signs—whatever you see. Then print your photos to paste in a journal, or upload them to your computer for a digital journal. Write fun and descriptive captions to go with each photo and share them with friends or family.
OR
Photograph camouflage. Animals and insects use colors and patterns from their surroundings to hide and protect themselves. Find and photograph things that have blended into their surroundings. It might be an owl in a tree. A garden lizard. A frog. A grasshopper. If you can’t find something in nature, draw or use fabric swatches of camouflage patterns, then photograph them outdoors in similar surroundings. Make a presentation of your camouflage project to share for your troop, family,
or friends.
For more FUN: Have a friend wear something with a camouflage pattern, then take pictures in outdoor places where she blends in.
Design with nature.[]
Bees create honeycomb—one of nature’s most modern-looking and functional designs—by depositing wax into hexagon shapes to help store their honey. Nature’s shapes and patterns have inspired architects for centuries, like the ancient Greeks and Romans who built columns fashioned after trees. Explore ideas for design by taking a close-up look at nature.
CHOICES—DO ONE:
Make something that interacts with weather. Create something that works with the weather, then put it outside to watch it in action. This could be a suncatcher that catches the sun’s light, a sundial to tell the sun’s position, a pinwheel that spins outside in the wind, or a windsock to hang outside to show wind direction. See the next page for examples of things you can make.
OR
Be a nature architect. Observe your natural surroundings and design something you can live in or that provides shelter. You can draw your design on paper, or if you can, make your structure! For example, if you’re in the snow, build an igloo, snow fort, or snow cave. (Tip: Use a loaf pan to shape bricks for an igloo.) In a backyard, forest, or desert setting, collect fallen twigs and leaves to build a hut or yurt. Or take a walk around your neighborhood and sketch all the geometric designs you can find on plants, flowers, trees, and structures.
For more FUN: Design a miniature golf course in the snow. Smooth the snow in an area that will be your golf range. Bury empty aluminum cans under the snow’s surface for golf holes. Tee off! Just don’t forget to collect the cans when you’re finished playing.
OR
Design—and grow—a square-foot garden. Design a garden to plant a bunch of different types of herbs, plants or vegetables in one square-foot area! One way is to plant seeds in a raised planter box or plastic bin divided into 12-inch squares rather than straight into the soil. Then design your grid for what to plant in each square: herbs in one section and vegetables in the other? Or plant by color—red on one side, green on the other?